The App Planet is shaping up to be one of the highlights of this year’s GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Billed as an “event within an event”, the App Planet is setup to let all MWC attendees learn more about this important and rapidly evolving mobile phenomenon.

There are special events for both the technical side of app development as well as the business aspects, so it promises to be a really interesting event.

---

At last year’s Mobile World Congress, mobile apps were just beginning to become popular, but had not taken on the incredible momentum they have in the past 12 months. The world of mobile apps is now moving so quickly that the GSMA decided to have a special event at MWC this year to help the industry stay up to speed on the latest tech developments and trends in the market.

App developers are definitely one of the most important audiences for App Planet, and there are a series of activities to address their key concerns. But in addition to developers, the App Planet is also set up to help essentially everyone – content developers, mobile operators, handset manufacturers, platform companies – better understand the world of mobile apps.

There are really two core activities that are the center of the App Planet, the exhibit area and the Developer Conferences.

App Exhibition Hall

Located in Hall 7, the App Planet exhibition area brings together more than 50 app-specific exhibitors in one place. This area is open to all pass holders each day of the Congress, and provides a great way to get an overview of the wide variety mobile apps and meet the companies that are driving the industry.

To see a list of who will be exhibiting, go here, then click on the “App Planet” filter button on the left side.

There will also be an App Lounge located within the App Planet – a networking area to relax and meet other attendees. And from 18:00 to 19:00 each evening, there will be a special happy hour for attendees at the Damm bar near the App Lounge.

App Developer Conferences

This is the second key focus of the App Planet. Most of the major mobile app software platform companies will sponsor invitation-only sessions which go into both the technical and business aspects of developing apps on their platform.

There is a full schedule of Developer Conferences as follows:

• Monday 15 February – Vodafone 360 Developer Conference
  Vodafone sponsors a full day session about building and marketing apps for its Vodafone 360 platform.
• Monday 15 February – Motorola’s MOTODEV Developer Day
  See the tools and market knowledge to build great apps on Motorola’s Android-based device.

• Tuesday, 16 February – BlackBerry Developer Day
  RIM takes a look at the rapidly growing BlackBerry platform.

• Wednesday, 17 February – Google Android Developer Lab
  Targeted at current Android developers and those who want to learn more about the platform.

• Wednesday, 17 February – Sony Ericsson Creation Day
  A day of content creation experiences, focusing on the future of mobile UGC (user generated content).

• Thursday, 18 February – WipJam
  Hosted by WIP (Wireless Internet Partnership), a Developer Day bringing together developers and industry leaders.

And more …

Finally, the Apps Garage is the central location for all the GSMA-related programs and activities.

One such program brings together the GSMA with Berkeley Mobile International Collaborative, a non-profit organisation focused on bringing innovative, real-world educational and entrepreneurial opportunities to college students throughout the world. Together they have launched the global University Mobile Challenge, which will bring together teams of students from universities that offer courses in mobile app development and entrepreneurship. The winning teams will participate in a global competition at Mobile World Congress 2011.

Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer for the GSMA, said, “Application development is one of the most vibrant, innovative areas within mobile today, and we’re thrilled with the early response to App Planet.”

So if you are going to the Mobile World Congress this year, make sure to plan some time to visit App Planet!

04.02.2010    Tags: conference, mobile-application, mobile-world-congress