Samsung to steal spotlight at MWC

CEOs of Facebook, IBM to appear at trade show in Spain

• Published Feb 21, 2014 6:15 PM KST
• Updated Feb 21, 2014 6:15 PM KST

By Choi Kyong-ae

Samsung Electronics will steal the

spotlight at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) when it unveils the “next big thing” for mobile consumers.

The Korean technology giant will introduce its next flagship smartphone in Spain early next week. All eyes are on the “Unpacked 5” event set for Feb. 24 local time amid slowing sales of smartphones globally.

How the new smartphone ― most likely the Galaxy S5, the successor to its Galaxy S4 ― is accepted by consumers will be key for Samsung’s future earnings growth, analysts said. Samsung earns nearly 70 percent of its operating profit from mobile phones and telecom equipment.

Technology experts said curved smartphones, wearables, speedier services by mobile carriers and challenges from Chinese smartphone makers will likely be major trends during the world’s most important trade show for the mobile industry. The Barcelona show will run for four days. Some 1,800 technology companies are expected to attend.

“Curved smartphones (such as the Samsung Galaxy Round and the LG G Flex) are the first step toward a future of rollable touchscreens. Innovative companies to visit will be Samsung and LG (Electronics) at MWC,” according to Strategy Analytics, a global market research firm.

Analysts said Samsung won’t likely surprise the market with innovative features such as the iris scanner in the new smartphone. But they said Samsung will be the company which comes closer to the MWC’s theme of “Creating What’s Next.”

“Chances are the Galaxy S5 smartphone will come with next versions of mobile devices such as the Galaxy Gear smartwatch or the Galaxy Tab tablet PC at the MWC,” NH Securities analyst Lee Sun-tae said by telephone. The Galaxy S5 is widely expected to have a wider 5.2-inch, ultra high-definition resolution screen.

Technology executives such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, IBM Chairman Virginia Rometty and Chinese handset makers such as Lenovo will also take center stage at the MWC, analysts said.

Other keynote speakers include AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, Kakao Co-CEO Sirgoo Lee, SingTel CEO Chua Sock Koong and Bitcoin Foundation Executive Director Jon Matonis. They will discuss ways to generate new business models allowing companies to ride out a saturating market, according to the MWC web page.

It remains to be seen what mobile strategy Lenovo will outline at the MWC after it announced plans to buy Google’s Motorola Mobility handset unit for $2.9 billion last month.

Korean carriers such as SK Telecom and KT plan to introduce next-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technologies for faster mobile services. “LTE Advanced (LTE-A) will bring new excitement to LTE at MWC as capabilities already deployed in Korea come to the global market,” Strategy Analytics said.

Faced with squeezed margins due to stiff competition, Samsung and LG are aiming to boost their LTE smartphone sales in Europe where wireless operators have begun to roll out the LTE mobile networks, Lee said.

As for Samsung, it plans to promote its security system for mobile devices, called Knox, at the MWC as part of efforts to create a new growth engine. JK Shin, who is in charge of Samsung’s IT and Mobile Communications Division, will announce the “next big thing for enterprise mobility” on Feb. 25, according to Samsung.

Samsung has been developing the Knox security system to lure more corporate and government clients into the enterprise device market dominated by Canada’s Blackberry. But Samsung is still in the middle of tackling programming bugs and other problems on Knox, which comes free on Galaxy devices.

Moreover, the company reportedly plans to introduce a smartphone powered by its own mobile operating system, called Tizen. But skeptics say Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are so dominant that there seems to be little room in the market for a third platform. All Samsung smartphones currently operate on Android.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics preemptively launched G Pro 2, a new smartphone-tablet hybrid, in Korea on Feb. 13, two weeks ahead of the MWC. Its global rollout starts in March.