Some Day, Mobile World Congress Will Not be Needed

Supercomm once was the big “U.S. telecom event. The Cable Show once was the big “U.S. cable TV event” and CTIA once was the big “U.S. mobile industry” event.

They do not exist anymore. Some might argue that GSMA’s Mobile World Congress has taken the place of the CTIA event, if smaller in scale. But Supercomm and the Cable Show are simply gone.

source: New Perspective 

We might here note the aphorism that nearly all trade shows eventually go away, as the underlying industry dynamics change. 

These days we might also point to the existence of the internet as contributing to faster obsolescence, as “information” value no longer requires the holding of such events. Trade shows retain their value as venues for sales teams: it is an economical way to “travel once, meet many.”

But the “sharing information” role is largely displaced, as market participants can create their own events and share information in lots of other ways. 

It also is fair to note that mature industries tend to develop smaller numbers of potential customers than younger, developing industries. That makes it easier for sales teams to directly target their potential customers. 

So though it might seem “impossible,” we might already be seeing the beginnings of the “end” of Mobile World Congress. It won’t happen overnight. But as the ranks of mobile operators begin to shrink through consolidation, there will be greater opportunities to target potential customers directly. 

And as growth mechanisms shift elsewhere in the ecosystem, we are likely to see the rise of new events emphasizing those areas of growth, which typically will require lots of spadework to find channel partners, customers and solution enablers. 

MWC already has ceased to be the key venue for phones and new phone launches. It already has shifted to “enterprise” apps and solutions to a large degree. More changes likely will be coming as revenue growth shifts toward ecosystems geared to the internet of things, enabled by artificial intelligence, using blockchain and cloud computing. 

We do not yet know when the change will happen, or what else will emerge to take its place, but MWC will not be exempt from evolution. We have seen the story before: connectivity industry “must attend” industry events eventually lose their value as the industry matures. 

Such events will retain their highest value for sales teams. Value will evaporate fastest in the event roles as information sharing platforms. And ecosystem participants will start to find new venues organized around relative niches in the business, simply because the efficiency of such meetings will be higher. 

At some point, though, the “need” for mega-events will pass. The fixed network telecom industry and cable TV industry still exist, without the need for mega-events. The mobile industry will still exist, even if MWC no longer is necessary. 

CES might be the exception to the rule, in large part because the “consumer technology” business remains so fluid and so distributed. Those are the ideal drivers for a recurring event.