The GSMA last week reported that more than 49,000 visitors from 200 countries attended the 2010 GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona – which is where MWC will stay through 2012.
More than 20,000 people visited the inaugural App Planet, an event designed to bring together the elements of the mobile application ecosystem together in one location. Google, Motorola, Research In Motion, Sony Ericsson, Vodafone and WIPJam each held application developer conferences within App Planet. Overall, more than 6,000 developers attended MWC this year.
As for those rumors that the event might be moved to another city? GSMA representatives last week said that's not in the plan, and GSMA Limited CEO John Hoffman confirmed as such in his statement. "The GSMA is committed to holding the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona through 2012," he said in a press release. "We thank the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Fira de Barcelona and all our Barcelona partners for being such warm and efficient hosts, and we look forward to being back here next year."
During the event, Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt delivered a keynote to a standing-room only crowd; as of last Thursday, the session had been viewed by more than 35,000 people via the Mobile World Live portal.
The association says 54 percent of MWC attendees hold C-level positions, including more than 2,800 CEOs. The event featured 1,300 exhibiting companies and occupied more than 56,000 net square meters of exhibition and business meeting space.