Mobile World Congress for iPhone – released

It has been released merely 2 weeks ago and we have just tested it:

The problem is that this app is not what it seems – i.e. official app of Mobile World Congress. It’s not even covering all companies but only companies from Israel as in fact it is an app made by Israeli government:

The Mobile Catalog app allows to easily access data in a mobile solutions catalog from www.export.gov.il.

The app provides introductory pages, including a set of pictures from a venue in which mobile professionals may find it especially useful, namely the Mobile World Congress grounds in Barcelona.

The app allows browsing company details by name or by company’s main categories, and in addition allows viewing the original catalog in PDF format.

Furthermore, the Mobile Catalog allows sharing the catalog document via Email.

Even though this app is not covering all companies and is not (yet) covering Mobile World Congress from this year, it is a free so worth taking a look at, particularly if you are dropping by to Mobile World Congress yourself or you would like to get a feeling about this event.

If you don’t know what Mobile World Congress is, then here is an explanation: Mobile World Congress, formerly known as “3GSM Congress” and formerly taking place in Cannes, France, is a global event for professionals (mostly for employees of mobile operators/carriers) from all over the world. Nowadays it takes place in Barcelona, Spain in February each year. It was moved to Barcelona from Cannes because Cannes was too small for it (we remember times when we had to carry out interview with Palm on a yacht due to lack of place in the venue). Unlike events like CES where people can buy tickets for 100 bucks or get free entrance via invitation from company, unless you are an accredited press member, you have to pay 599 Euro for exhibition-only entrance, and to attend also conference sessions you have to pay 2099 Euro. In American currency it is: 863 bucks and 3025 bucks respectively. In the currency with picture of the queen of England it is: 538 pounds and 1888 pounds respectively. Mobile World Congress is a global event and many people from Asia also are coming, so not just Europeans and Americans – but for example employees of Chinese operators. In other words: Mobile World Congress is the biggest cellphone industry event in the world that is also the most important one.

Of course Apple has revolutionized mobile industry by making mobile operators its slaves, who are begging for ability to get exclusive on iPhone, so Mobile World Congress has lost importance, but still for many companies it is the main venue to present their products and to make business contacts. There is even “App Planet” sub-event this year that recognizes importance of the app revolution.

Since Apple is very anti-establishment when it comes to cellphone industry, we doubt that Mobile World Congress will ever release its official iPhone app, but surely it would be usable as the reality now is that many attendees of Mobile World Congress are using iPhone as their cellphone…

Here are some screenshots from this app, that we took during the test: