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Mobile World Congress (MWC), the key event for the mobile hardware and software industry, is over for another year.
MWC isn't aimed at developers, but SitePoint author, Cate Lawrence was there and sent me some of her highlights developers should keep an eye on.
The Internet of Things is Huge
Whatever you think of IoT and what it means, it keeps growing, feeding consumer and industry demand alike
The good news for developers is that creating and marketing your own ideas is getting easier and cheaper, with genuinely useful devices dropping below the $200 mark, even when produced on a small scale.
Cate's highlight in the IoT space was the Walabot, a consumer 3D imaging systemsthat can be attached to a mobile device.
SitePoint is working on an 'emerging tech' channel that will cover many of these devices and how to program for them. So watch this space with your wifi-connected eye.
CyanogenMOD brings the Post-App Era
Cyanogen Inc showcased some of their recent activities. This included the launch of MOD, that introduces "mods," intelligent, contextually aware, and lightweight experiences built natively into a mobile OS. This presents some interesting opportunities for (Android) developers looking for different distribution channels that only requires learning some new APIs and design concepts.
The OPEN Project
Not directly relevant to developers, but of interest to us, is the Linux Foundation announcing the formation of the OPEN-Orchestrator Project (OPEN-O). It aims to unite industry to develop the first open source software framework and orchestrator to enable software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). What could this mean? The slow death of sim cards and more potential for developers to tap straight into operator services.
Did you catch any of the news from MWC? What were your highlights? Let me know!