2020: The Next Element
in Mobile and What It
Means For Us Today

Mobile World Congress (MWC), held in Barcelona, is proclaimed as the biggest industry event for ‘all things mobile’. This year’s theme – ‘The Next Element’ celebrated ‘mobile’ as that next element. You may be asking, “Didn’t the mobile phone revolution happen a decade ago? What’s so new about the mobile element?” While the latest in smartphone technology was showcased, a lot more was also going on. Read on to learn about where the future of mobile is heading, and what it means to you.

The evolving 5G network and connectivity was one of the main topics both at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and MWC this year. In a MWC Keynote the Nokia CEO spoke about how 5G will enable the fourth industrial revolution and transform communication as we know it. What is interesting in 5G is it has potential to connect not just mobile phones but the next billion things: cities, cars, watches, your keys everything – the Internet of connected Things (IoT). In the future, almost every object will have its own IP-address and embrace the power of the ‘mobile’ element. While the wide scale implications of IoT will be across different industry verticals the focus here is on consumer IoT and what it means to you not just in the future – but today.

Amidst all the smartphones, gadgets and IoT ambitions for the future, a major facilitator is right among us, enabling everyday connectivity from fitness trackers to assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home. During the launch of the iPhone 4S, the media put most of the spotlight on Siri and a so-called improved camera. What is often overseen is that the iPhone 4S was a game changer: the first widely used, widely available smartphone featuring a radical new power efficient Bluetooth® low energy technology, unleashing a new generation of applications, devices and services in the wearables and smart home sectors. It is important developers focus on power-efficient, practical and scalable consumer IoT applications. After fitness trackers and smartwatches, Bluetooth powered item trackers are connecting many of our everyday important Things, Xupo is an example of a cost-effective locator device with an open API enabling innovations in ‘connected everything’.

When it comes to the IoT/IoE, 2020 is the magic year, the focal point on the horizon when it all comes together, when telcos and manufacturers will have provided the infrastructure and technology to make I(o)T happen. Why search every low and high, when good things could not be closer by. In 2017, the long anticipated Bluetooth 5 was announced at Discover Blue in Las Vegas, NV and with the Samsung S8 announced straight after MWC it finally comes into the hands of consumers. What does this mean for you, for industries, and for the IoT? Cisco’s iconic TV commercial sees the Next Big Thing as not a thing but lots of things waking up on the Internet of Everything. One might add: “to the sound of enabling technologies like Bluetooth and 5G in future,” but that’s rare and often overlooked by mainstream media.

According to connectivity startup Connect-In the ever-so transformational Bluetooth technology has consolidated its place in our everyday lives, now with the capabilities of a physical web-ready beacon; with a growing developer community behind Bluetooth, iPhones and Android devices will be an increasingly connected world – connecting people to things to places to context and meaningful applications with the smartphone as your gateway.

Technology must solve real life problems. Our company with Xupo^® brings easy to embed and use IoT solutions for the consumer. Ever had that sinking feeling of having lost something of value to you: keys, purse or your travel bag? What if technology could enable you to take more control into your hand at home or when out and about? Welcome the era of connected personal things. Powered with Bluetooth and a patented smart location platform, Xupo^® helps you keep track of personal items through a smartphone app, create a GPS time-stamp when left behind and allows for additional downloadable content available at www.myxupo.com