BARCELONA, Spain - Apple's decision this year to stay away from Mobile World Congress is in line with its lone-ranger stance toward trade shows. Google and Microsoft are stepping into the void and with good result.

Here's what our correspondents in Barcelona, Spain, had to report on yesterday's proceedings at the world's largest get-together of mobile executives.

Day 3

Google gives away Nexus One phones for free

Harald Neidhardt
Chief marketing officer and cofounder
Smaato
Hamburg, Germany

The Android developer community seemed to have tripled within hours yesterday at Mobile World Congress. When rumors spread that Google was giving away Nexus One phones for free, hundreds of businessmen pulled their pride aside for a moment and stood in line for an entire hour and a half. Why? Well, just to attend an Android developer session.

And why would non-developers want to attend such a session? The answer was easy. Because at the end of the session, each attendee got a brand-new Nexus One phone - or Motorola Droid, if you asked for it-  for free. Google gave away 1,000 Nexus One phones in ten sessions. A clever and focused way to create buzz with the right people.

The Android-phone giveaway made waves across the hall, where Sony Ericsson also showed off new devices and hosted its developer day with creative workshops.

Meanwhile, GSM Association CEO Rob Conway said in his opening speech that the demand grows constantly while innovation continues to surprise.
 
Actor Stephen Fry, a known technophile, echoed Feb. 16?s words of Queen Rania of Jordan, calling this the ?best time in history to care about how we share and communicate.?

Mr. Fry introduced the GSMA awards with a summary of the happenings in the mobile world.

"What does an Italian say when using a Samsung phone running Microsoft OS?" he asked. "Bada bing!"

---

An Apple away keeps Google and Microsoft at play

Val Christopherson
Managing director
Global Results Communications
Irvine, CA

While mobile marketing does not figure prominently this year on the actual conference agenda for Mobile World Congress, it has been a major topic of discussion in keynote addresses at the show. And it is not only the mobile marketing companies themselves that are talking about it.

Wireless carriers, handset makers and even the GSM Association itself have discussed their mobile marketing strategies and perspectives on where the industry is heading. It is no surprise, given that mobile Web adoption is moving eight times faster than it did on the PC.

In his keynote, GSMA CEO Rob Conway talked about 2010 being ?the year of the developer.?

Mr. Conway cited the growth of applications on Apple?s platform, and in particular, the growth of ad-supported advertising.

Using Gartner?s forecast that there will 1.82 billion smartphones by 2013 versus 1.78 billion PCs, Mr. Conway said he predicts mobile advertising will grow so quickly that it will outstrip Internet advertising.

The GSMA chief also plugged  Mobile Media Metrics, a product that GSMA and a task force including Telefonica, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and 3 unveiled at Mobile World Congress last year, to help media, advertising agencies, publishers and brands deliver better mobile advertising campaigns.

Meanwhile, during his keynote on Feb. 16, Google CEO Eric Schmidt unveiled Google?s new mantra, ?Mobile First.?

Mr. Schmidt outlined the Internet giant?s various mobile initiatives, including its planned acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob.

Indeed, Mr. Schmidt acknowledged that three elements now converge on the mobile device: interconnectivity, computing power and the cloud. He said you need to get all three of these elements right if you want to win.

On the carrier front, Orange announced plans to expand its mobile advertising initiatives to include all of Europe. The company is developing local programs using both SMS and MMS.

On the device side, Sony Ericsson introduced its new mobile content creation platform called ?Creations? to get a piece of the mobile marketing action.

To address the needs of application developers, Adobe debuted its new mobile AIR platform to bring unified Flash development to mobile devices.

Once again, Apple is conspicuously absent from the show.

Whether an air of hubris or a signal to the world that the company views North America as the only key to its success, Apple and the mobile advertising network it acquired, Quattro Wireless, have let Google steal the mobile advertising limelight at Mobile World Congress.