It's been a while...
Done some traveling, a couple of conferences and now I am back for good.
So, what we have seen so far. Budget cuttings are visible all over.
Take for example GSMA (Mobile World Congress). Empty exhibiting spaces, a lot less giveaways (almost none except for some rubber ducks from my friend Janis) and a lot less visitors! I mean the first day was a major disappointment. Walking around the GSMA was like walking around a park, or a not so crowded street. Second and third days were back to normal (companies not paying for the full Monty?).
So, what was the conclusion from this year's GSMA? As a friend quoted "At last, technology is stable!" No new super technology was presented and some of the major technologies of the past missing. As a result it seems safer to invest on the technology currently on the market and start making some real money out of it. It has been a race towards technological excellence in the past years with most innovations not finding their proper market share due to companies and investors being sucked in an opportunistic hype.
Let's see for example WIMAX. In the previous two years I can remember at least 20 exhibitors focused on WIMAX technology and hardware while this year only one came to my attention!
It was supposedly a major technological leap which didn't make it to the market as it is clear from the fact most deployments are still in trials, that it is largely used by start-up carriers and is supported by “second-tier vendors”. In comparison, HSPA with 154 commercial networks already in operation (at the end of 2008) and support from top tier vendors has taken over the market.
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