In 2022, the metaverse captured the hearts of Mobile World Congress audiences? Not quite.

At the world’s largest event dedicated to mobile telephony and aspects related to hardware of mobile devices, a lot of excitement was generated by models expected by fans of particular series of smartphones, there were other technical innovations, but it was the metaverse that was on the tongues of all participants. However, not everyone was sure what they were dealing with.

As for Mobile World Congress, on spain.Info reads that the Mobile World Congress is an event organized every year since 2011 spring n.e., in Barcelona, which has earned it the title „GSMA Mobile World Capital”. He will hold this title until next year, according to the information we can find on Wikipedia. Spain Info informs us that the event could have been attended by up to 50 thousand. Mobile specialists, and the congress focuses on the hottest and most avant-garde trends and solutions in this sector. These are the exhibition fairs, which organization resembles the Krakow EXPO, which often hosts technological exhibitors, in terms of location, and in the case of narrower and specialized topics in Poland we can look at ITM Industry Europe in Poznan or Warsaw Warsaw Home Electronics.

Back in Barcelona, Mobile World Congress showcases the industry’s biggest technology launches.

Technology fans, representatives of mobile operators, marketers, vendors, journalists, reviewers and a whole range of specialists visit this place to broaden their horizons and take a breath of admiration for the human brain. This is a place where there is no shortage of discussions about the future of people and devices and futuristic market projects.

Metaverse is the tongue in cheek?

In addition to the expected news in terms of smartphones, which include the launch of devices from Honor, Huawei, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi or OPPO, as reported by CNBC this year out of nowhere, the metaverse led the way among the technological exhibitions of the biggest giants affecting our lives.

Facebook’s rebranding in the Metaverse has started a trend in which more and more companies have decided to reveal their conceptual work on the virtual equivalent of our reality. Digital is to be the main determinant of our work, entertainment and social relationships from now on. All skeptics of the concept can be cooled down by the fact that the term was the most frequently occurring word at this year’s edition, which means that everyone is working hard to develop this technology. The specialists themselves point out at the same time that the formula that is presented at the moment has features quite vague. – Metaverse is a trendy word at the moment – CCS Insight principal analyst Ben Wood told CNBC, stressing that this is still a rather vague term.

Metaverse, or don’t know what..

The concept has taken hold in the mindset of tech geeks, but it’s still hard not to get the impression that companies themselves have lost their way in formulating how to refer to it. South Korean company SK Telecom was offering a ride titled “4D Metaverse” at its booth. Admittedly, this was new from South. Korean manufacturer, but attendees at previous editions could experience similar attractions from samsung, which offered such rides in VR helmets. The difference was the use of a different headset.

Among the demonstrations of a similar type also stood out Taiwanese HTC, which presented headsets Vive, with which you could walk through a virtual museum or see the desert. Qualcomm decided to teach cooking, and for those less interested in cuisine organized a hunt for extremely large 3D insects. For a moment, attendees could feel as if they were in the Permian era, when predatory proto-humans could have wingspans of up to 70 cm. Orange at the time encouraged people to be physically active without moving. At the orange booth, people were encouraged to climb Notre-Dame Cathedral in VR goggles – Meta Oculus Quest 2.

So it is apparent that companies are picking up on the trend and trying to get in on it. – At MWC you can see weird, crazy and wonderful things trying to jump on the fad that is metaverse – explains Paolo Pescatore, technology, telecommunications and media analyst at PP Foresight – it still seems very much a stretch. And right now it seems to be a kind of “Wild West” – quips.

This is just the beginning?

Telecommunication companies are just taking their first steps in terms of metaverse facilities. Although there was a lot of talk about it at the fair, some people might have had the impression of participating in reheated chops from previous years doused in meta sauce for disguise. However, this is not the final iteration of these projects. Spanish Telefonica has announced a new position within the company, that of chief officer of the Metaverse. The leadership of the department developing the meta strategy for real implementation was taken by the figure of Yaiza Rubio. At the same time, the company itself does not yet have an idea of how to enter the new market, which is to be helped by a new department created for it. – We wonder what the role of a telecom operator like Telefonica should be in this new evolution – explained to MWC attendees Chema Alonso, director of. digital Telefonics – We don’t know yet. But we will certainly be looking at this very carefully because we believe this move is unstoppable – adds.

A completely different opinion was held by Marc Allera, who said that the inclusion of the word metaverse in new posts or projects may add freshness and modernity to the issue, but it does not erase the fact that basically no one has any idea what the specifics are and where such initiatives ultimately go. The CEO of BT’s consumer brands has said in the face of this that he has no intention of hiring anyone with “metaverse” in the job title. Which is not to say that he criticizes the concept itself. Allera said that in his opinion, the metaverse is a natural consequence of the development of the Internet, which is already confirmed by the existence of many of its elements, such as VR and AR. – Mixed reality experiences are being created today and will evolve – said. Previously presented at the Barcelona fair, 5G or Internet of Everything technologies seem to confirm this thesis, as they are an important complementary element to the meta-experience.

It’s not a metaverse time!

It turns out that the provocateur of the whole commotion, Mark Zuckerberg points out that today’s technology is too limited to bring his baby to market, which makes it much harder for him to talk about it. Developers face the challenge of improving telecommunications infrastructure and increasing semiconductor bandwidth, which in turn will need to be much smaller than before for meta-worlds to operate efficiently. Companies, despite clear confusion and serious problems, decided not to let go of work on the development of their concepts. Will the metaverse end up like VR did a few years ago? All signs point to this, but isn’t VR technology thriving in today’s paradigm? It may not be the time of the metaverse yet, but like a sine wave we will be hearing about it many more times.