“Not only has the worst passed, as we were able to predict intuitively last year, but there’s also a feeling that the industry is preparing for another major growth cycle, fuelled by new market drivers and a certain understanding between the chain’s heavy players, who previously had been fighting over the new and highly monetizable scenario envisioned.” Assessed Oriol Ros, Head of Marketing at Latinia in an interview with COM Radio’s morning magazine show “COM Today”, at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress 2011, held in Barcelona, and whose future location will be decided in upcoming month. Either Milan, Paris, Munich or Barcelona itself will host the congress from 2013 through 2017.
“Regarding terminals, tablets were undoubtedly the star of the event, more so than the ubiquitous smartphones, and the business these will generate in the next few years as a growth base for the industry. After the iPad game-changing, we have seen the (continuing) appearance of different and new versions of the same concept, some more low-cost, other smaller versions – the overwhelming success of the iPad’s challenge is recognized when an entire market focuses its attention in this new product category,” underlined Ros.
Required for new tech trends, Ros noted “the growing presence of NFC (Near Field Communication) initiatives, mobile proximity contactless payment systems, that allow users to pay for consumer goods, such as a bus ticket or similar, with VISA’s commitment being especially relevant. In Sitges, Spain, last year we already had a successful initiative in partnership with “la Caixa” and Telefonica, which will certainly be extended soon.”
As to whether the organization will choose Barcelona again as its host for the 2013 – 2017 period, Ros was cautious. “We have to be realistic. We are competing with three first class cities. Barcelona has professionally resolved the problems that arose in the first two years and right now it’s difficult to imagine that another city could surpass us in terms of organization, and of course in climate, but it doesn’t stop the fact that we are facing three phenomenal competitors, who are not going to make things in the least bit easy for us.”
