GSMA Announces New Keynote Speakers for Mobile World Congress 2012

LONDON, November 8, 2011 -

The GSMA today announced that executives from ARM, Best Buy, China Mobile, Citigroup, ISIS, Juniper Networks, Sprint and VimpelCom will be speaking in the keynote programme at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, which will be held 27th February - 1st March 2012 at the Fira de Barcelona Montjuic in Barcelona. The GSMA also provided updates on other elements of Mobile World Congress, including App Planet, the GSMA Forum Series and the mPowered Brands programme.

“The line-up of keynote speakers announced today strengthens what is an already unparalleled conference programme,” said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA.  ”Mobile World Congress attendees will have the opportunity to hear from many of the mobile communications industry’s most influential leaders across our four-day programme.  We’re looking forward to a very exciting event in February.”

New keynote speakers at Mobile World Congress include:

• Warren East, CEO, ARM
• Brian Dunn, CEO, Best Buy
• Xi Guohua, Vice Chairman, China Mobile
• Vikram Pandit, CEO, Citigroup
• Michael Abbott, CEO, ISIS
• Kevin Johnson, CEO, Juniper Networks
• Dan Hesse, CEO, Sprint Nextel
• Jo Lunder, CEO, VimpelCom

Previously announced Mobile World Congress 2012 speakers are:

• Ben Verwaayen, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent
• Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO - AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, AT&T
• Sunil Mittal, Chairman and MD, Bharti Airtel
• Rene Obermann, CEO, Deutsche Telekom
• John Donahoe, President and CEO, eBay
• John Riccitiello, CEO, Electronic Arts
• Hans Vestberg, President and CEO, Ericsson
• Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google
• Peter Chou, CEO, HTC
• Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO, Interpublic Group
• Stephen Elop, President and CEO, Nokia
• Ryuji Yamada, President and CEO, NTT DOCOMO
• Franco Bernabe, Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia Group
• Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO, Telenor Group
• Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive, Vodafone

Topic areas addressed in the keynote programme will include mobile operator strategies in developed and developing markets, cloud computing, connected consumers, mobile money, mobile OS and applications and next-generation networks and technologies.

In addition to the keynote programme, the 2012 conference will also feature dedicated tracks on applications, cloud computing, embedded mobile, mobile advertising, mobile health, mobile money, next-generation technologies and OSS/BSS, as well as sessions exploring business strategy, developing markets, devices, network capacity, regional issues and social media, among other subjects.

GSMA Expands Partners in App Planet

For the third year, the GSMA will host App Planet, its award-winning, developer-focused “event within an event”, providing a unique venue to explore the many dimensions of the ever-changing and critically important mobile apps market. App Planet features an exhibition, app developer conferences (ADCs) and App Challenge developer competitions, and is open to all Congress attendees.

Wireless Industry Partnership (WIP) will be holding an ADC at Mobile World Congress, joining Nokia, Research in Motion and Samsung as App Planet partners.  The Generalitat de Catalunya is the sponsor of App Planet. For more information on App Planet, please visit www.mobileworldcongress.com/appplanet.

GSMA Forum Series at Mobile World Congress

The GSMA aims to advance mobile technologies and applications through the sponsored Forum Series at Mobile World Congress, bringing together industry players to discuss and debate a range of topics in focused sessions. Each Forum is a one-day programme featuring individual sessions from the Forum partners. The GSMA today introduced the Mobile Security Forum, in addition to the previously announced LTE Forum and the Mobile Cloud Forum.  The Mobile Security Forum is sponsored by Adaptive Mobile, Symantec and Trend Micro. For more information on the Forum Series, go to www.mobileworldcongress.com/forum-series.

Nielsen to Participate in the mPowered Brands Programme

New for 2012, the mPowered Brands programme provides an indispensible opportunity for professionals across the mobile marketing ecosystem to gain important and timely insights, practical knowledge and innovative solutions from the companies at the forefront of mobile marketing today.  The GSMA today announced that Nielsen, a global information and measurement company, has become a partner in the mPowered Brands programme and will be hosting an mPowered Brands Theatre session at Mobile World Congress. For more information on the mPowered Brands programme, go to www.mobileworldcongress.com/mpoweredbrands-overview.

For more information on Mobile World Congress 2012, including details on how to attend, exhibit or sponsor, please visit www.mobileworldcongress.com.

The Mobile World Congress is the cornerstone of the Mobile World Capital - Barcelona. In addition to Mobile World Congress, the Mobile World Capital also includes the Mobile World Centre and the Mobile World Festival, programmes and activities that will span the entire year and will benefit not only the citizens of Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain, but also the worldwide mobile industry. For more information on the Mobile World Capital, please visit www.mobileworldcapital.com. 

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Congress.  

For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at www.gsmworld.com.

Abigail Faylor, For the GSMA, +44(0)2070-670-851, afaylor at webershandwick.com or press at gsm.org