The GSMA has announced several new developments for the 2011 GSMA Mobile World Congress, which will be held 14-17 February, 2011 in Barcelona.
Building on the success of the inaugural App Planet event held in 2010, the GSMA is expanding the developer focused programme at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2011 to include new elements such as Macworld Mobile and the Brand App Challenge. The GSMA also announced RIM and Palm as the first Application Developer Conference (ADC) partners for App Planet. Finally, the GSMA announced that the CEOs of América Móvil, HTC, Vodafone and WPP have joined the list of industry leaders delivering keynote presentations at Mobile World Congress.
“App Planet proved to be a stunning success in its debut this year at Mobile World Congress, demonstrating the tremendous demand for in-depth content, networking and business development opportunities and information on the cutting edge technologies and solutions in the mobile application space,” said Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer, GSMA. “The developments we are announcing today, particularly the launch of Macworld Mobile which will target the critical Apple developer community, will serve to make App Planet and Mobile World Congress the epicentre for the app world.”
At Mobile World Congress 2011, the GSMA is partnering with IDG World Expo, organisers of Macworld, the world’s premiere event focused exclusively on the Apple products platform, to produce Macworld Mobile, a mobile developer event for the Apple iPhone and iPad platforms. The Macworld Mobile iOS Developer Conference will provide full-day, in-depth training on this critical platform, with technical sessions, targeting tools and applications specifically designed for mobile application developers and engineers.
“We're excited to bring Macworld Mobile to Mobile World Congress,” said Mary Dolaher, chief executive officer of IDG World Expo, a leading producer of world-class tradeshows and events. "Macworld is known around the world for helping to drive and stimulate the Apple products community with educational programmes and business development activities. At Mobile World Congress, we will help international iOS developers to strengthen their skills, as well as facilitate connections with other developers and the worldwide audience of mobile decision makers who attend.”
In addition to the key components of last year’s event, including ADCs held by major mobile platform providers, an interactive exhibition and the App Lounge to facilitate networking and business development activities, App Planet will also feature new elements including the Brand App Challenge. The GSMA expects more than 10,000 developers to visit App Planet during the four days of Mobile World Congress.
The GSMA is creating a competition focused on mobile application developers creating “brand apps” for a select number of global consumer brands. Developers will compete by creating customised mobile apps for the participating brand sponsors based on the objectives and guidance provided by the individual brands. The primary goals of the Brand App Challenge are to create networking and business opportunities which benefit the brands, application developers and the broader mobile ecosystem, as well as to tap the creativity and capabilities of the mobile application developer community to address brand and industry challenges.
The competition will begin in October with the finalists being named approximately one month before Mobile World Congress 2011. The Brand App Challenge winners will be announced as part of the Mobile World Congress conference programme and will receive cash awards for their winning efforts.