#FjordMWC Reflections on #MWC15 and #4YFN2015

MWC15 Once again Fjord was present at MWC, meeting clients and checking out what is new in the digital world. The centre of gravity at the conference has been moving away from mobile phones for a few years now, and this year we saw a clear trend in the wider ecosystem taking centre stage in the form of wearables, hearables, connected cars, and the likes. The connected car space saw Ford launch their MyFord app – a charging aid to drivers of electric vehicles. There was a new degree of maturity and sophistication on the wearables scene. Amongst many, Huawei launched their first ever smartwatch made with a sapphire display, and LG displayed their ‘superwatch’ LG Watch Urbane.

MWC15 – THE TRENDS

FJORD AT MWC

#FJORDBALL

This year we teamed up with our friends from Accenture in Hall 2. The stand was bursting with digital experiences, and one of them was our connected fuss-ball table. A group of designers in our Helsinki studio teamed up to turn their physical studio fuss-ball table into a digital experience. We brought the experience to Mobile World Congress, serving as a real life example of one of our Trends 2015: Digital Disruption Goes Physical. By spending less than €60 on an open source electronics platform, some off-the-shelf sensors and creating bespoke code and visuals, #FjordBall was born. It is a perfect example of how a physical object can be made digital with very little effort, money or expertise required.

#4YFN2015

4 Years From Now was a satellite conference held alongside MWC. Devoted to start-ups and future ideas, the conference showcased some of the brightest upcoming products and services focused on innovation in the mobile and digital world. The conference hosted several keynote talks and workshops. Mark Curtis, Fjord’s Founder & Chief Client Officer, gave a keynote talk on ‘Trends Impacting Design and Innovation in 2015 to an engaged audience of around 200 people in the Agora Banc Sabadell Arena.

FJORD REFLECTIONS

“MWC continues its journey away from “mobile” towards “digital” and

indeed Living Services. It is still telco dominated and this year there was

more than a hint that telcos are pushing harder to define their role in the

forthcoming eco-system. At 95,000 people attendance levels are very

high (remember it’s not open to the public like CES) - it was only 60,000

just three years ago. The US – maybe because of CES – feels under-

represented. Asia is there in force. Maybe the most significant thing this

year was the emergence of a credible off show fringe focused on start-

ups at 4YFN. I expect a lot more focus on innovation in this forum next

year”

Mark Curtis, founder and chief client officer

“The Chinese manufacturers have now graduated their products in

technology performance, and this year they were clearly closing in on

design. With the mobile phones lacking differentiation across

manufacturers, the big competition game has moved into the rest of the

ecosystem with wearables as the next battleground. Huawei and LG have

invested in product design to bridge the gap we saw last year between

fashion and smart watches. With hundreds of different wearables at the

show, we are starting to see segmentation emerge”

Inaki Amate, group director Fjord Nordics and Turkey

See you at MWC16!