Now that the whirlwind energy of Mobile World Congress is starting to wind down, we’re reflecting on what we’ve learned at the show.
Broadcom made a slew of big announcements and showed off a lot of buzz-generating demos, including our 4G LTE Advanced modem and the key features that make it attractive to wireless carriers and consumers alike; new advancements in geofencing technology built into our GPS chips; the growing momentum of 5G WiFi with a design win in an award-winning smartphone; a meaningful entrance into the small cells market for mobile and broadband operators — and even some neat PC tech that helps redefine the concept of mobile computing.
Check out the sites of Mobile World Congress 2013 on Facebook.
It’s clear that the mobile space is as competitive as ever. We also saw that embedded technologies, such as LTE processors and NFC chips are playing an important part in the conversation as consumers continue to get more savvy about their mobile lifestyles.
Below are some of the top trends that surfaced above the show floor’s thrum, and how Broadcom fits into the stories.
Broadcom’s LTE Makes Noise
Our pre-show LTE announcement made a lot of analysts and carriers take note, as competition has arrived in the LTE processor marketplace. Our built-in carrier aggregation technology was also a huge hit, as it will help carriers avoid spectrum crunch and deliver the fast streaming speeds mobile consumers are demanding. Here’s what they had to say:
- Trefis Team, Forbes: “The 4G LTE modem along with Broadcom’s leading Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC technologies provide manufacturers with a comprehensive product offering needed to build advanced mobile devices.”
- Phil Goldstein, Fierce Wireless: “Broadcom announced its intention to enter the LTE modem market with a chip the company boasted as one of the world’s smallest, fastest and most capable.”
- Brian Klug, AnandTech: “It was nice to see BCM21892 silicon working and demonstrating all of the available features we heard about in the announcement working.”
Small Cells Spark Interest
Small cells is a wireless infrastructure technology that when deployed will help carriers handle the massive uptick in data transmissions happening on mobile devices. While small cells are not going to be purchased by consumers — they will mean a lot to the customer experience: better signal, faster speeds and improved call quality.
Because of these features, carriers and bloggers are very excited about their mobile future:
- Martha DeGrasse, RCR Wireless: “Small cells are a major focus this week at Mobile World Congress, with several semiconductor companies launching new products to power and connect everything from femtocells to enterprise small cell networks.”
- Rick Merritt, EE Times: “Small cells are widely seen as the answer to the flood of mobile data congesting today’s traditional macro base stations.”
- John Cox, Network World: “Chipmaker Broadcom announced a development platform that manufacturers can use to build small cells with simultaneous 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi capability.”
- Mike Demler, EE Daily News: “Greg Fischer, Broadcom’s VP and GM for Broadband Carrier Access, says that the BCM61760 can support 100 to 200 simultaneous LTE users, and 32 to 64 for 3G.”
Low-power geofencing demo inside the Broadcom booth at MWC.
NFC Taps Into The Future
Smartphone and tablet makers tout their device’s NFC capabilities in commercials, but in order for the tap tech to work for consumers — retail and payment companies need to get on board as well. Even though announcements of new NFC tech were sparse, there was news of partnerships that will enable the “tap to interact” ecosystem of the future:
- Eric Franklin, CNET: “By the look of things, especially here at Mobile World Congress, NFC isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”
- Monica Gleberman, Mobile Commerce Insider: The partnership with SecureKey is a natural next step as [Broadcom] continue(s) building industry leading, highly integrated, NFC platforms for easy adoption by mobile, gaming, and consumer electronics OEMs.
- Mike Wheatley, Silicon Angle: “One of the biggest stories to come out of the Mobile World Congress so far is Samsung’s announcement that it’ll be working closely with Visa to deliver mobile payments via Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.”
HTC Upgrades to Broadcom’s 5G WiFi for One® Flagship Smartphone
Ultimately, Mobile World Congress is all about devices. We are particularly proud that the HTC One, designed and built with Broadcom’s 5G WiFi inside, was named “Best in Show” by TechRadar magazine, and they were not the only ones to sing the phone’s praises:
- Shankar Pandiath, TMC Net: “By adopting Broadcom’s BCM4335 5G Wi-Fi technology, HTC is offering the power, reliability and speed of 5G Wi-Fi in its newest device.”
- Analyst Blog, Zacks: “Broadcom’s 5G WiFi technology… will significantly enhance the range of a wireless connection. It will provide higher-capacity video streaming, connect multiple devices to the network at the same time and also reduce power consumption by 83% in mobile devices.”
- Kate Solomon, TechRadar: “In the inaugural TechRadar MWC Awards, there could be only one Best In Show – and our crack team of experts deemed the HTC One the cream of this year’s mobile crop.”
Didn’t make it to Barcelona? Get all of the highlights from Mobile World Congress on our dedicated site. Get the latest news from Broadcom by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and reading the blog.
About the Author
