The formation of a new applications platform by the world?s leading wireless carriers, the launch of Windows Mobile 7 by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and the Mobile Premier Awards kept Mobile World Congress abuzz. Here is what our correspondents had to report from the show floor.

Part of Day 2 (Feb. 16) and Day 1 (Feb. 15)

Traffic light, but mobile ad networks, app stores proliferating

Michael Neidhoefer
CEO
Netbiscuits
Kaiserslautern, Germany

It is the second year that I have the honor to share my impressions from the Mobile World Congress with Mobile Marketer readers. So first thing I did was to look through last year?s contributions and predictions.

The one I really failed at was with regards to app stores.

Last year I predicted that developers and content owners would start turning away from applications and app stores already up in 2009. There is no doubt that I was wrong.

Applications kept being a success story in 2009 ? if we talk about the iPhone. All other major players are still struggling with fragmentation issues within their own base of handsets. And with the Apple iPad, now even Apple requires an adaptation of applications for a bigger screen.

But as we know, these issues can be solved. More serious are the concerns that service and content providers have with regards to the strong dependencies that result from the successful app store channel, if it is the only distribution channel that works well in mobile.

So my prediction for 2010 is that Apple?s App Store will keep being important, but content and services providers will go much more for additional and alternative distribution and monetization mechanisms that allow them to keep control in their own hands. I am convinced that the open mobile Web will serve their needs.

If you ask for my first impressions from the show in Barcelona I can tell you that the weather is pretty bad in Spain and the halls are not very crowded ? quite similar to last year.

But we have a lot of good conversations going on and the one thing that is already clear and different from the years before is that there is no question anymore if mobile makes sense. The question today is, how to address mobile in the right way. Well, and that is what we here for to answer.

Indeed, mobile marketing is back.

After last year?s downturn and some wired experiments around paid content, mobile publishers are starting to re-focus on business models based on ad revenues. And they are right.

Looking at Netbiscuits? global statistics, I can say that last year only five to 10 advertising-related sites launched daily on our platform. Today, the number is around 30 per day.

Worldwide, more than 150 agencies have already registered with Netbiscuits. And most of them are just now setting up their own mobile development teams in-house. The reason is not only bigger budgets, but also a lot of new customers such as Siemens (created by Publicis, Germany) or IBM (created by Ogilvy, France) that started to invest seriously in mobile marketing for the first time.

A consequence that you can see here in Barcelona is the fast-growing number of ad networks. You would not call it a bubble yet, but it is clear that there are far too many of those companies in a market that is still relatively small.

At Netbiscuits we already have integrated eight ad service partners worldwide. After these two days in Barcelona, I could easily add another dozen to our list. It will be interesting to see, if the market will grow fast enough to provide a sunny future for all these companies.

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Will developers buy into new carrier app platform?

Valerie Christopherson
Managing director
Global Results Communications
Irvine, CA

Possibly one of the biggest announcements at Mobile World Congress so far is the formation of the Wholesale Applications Community ? a consortium of 24 of the world?s largest wireless carriers who have joined forces to create their own app store to rival Apple.

The Wholesale Applications Community?s vision is to make it easier for developers to produce applications for a range of different app stores, as well as to build a new, open ecosystem that will encourage the creation of applications that can be used on any device, regardless of operating system or carrier.

The group also aims to let consumers keep the applications they have paid for when they switch phones ? real sore spot for Apple customers. 

Industry giants Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint, Vodafone and China Mobile are just a few of the consortium?s founding members. The group is being backed by phone makers Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Sony Ericsson.

The consortium has 3 billion subscribers between them, dwarfing the size of the Apple community, so no doubt these global powerhouses have the size and scope to give Apple a run for its money.

But it depends on how effectively ? and quickly ? they can coalesce to create industry standards and encourage developers to write applications for the new ecosystem.

The consortium was only just announced, but so far none of the major device makers with their own operating system, such as Nokia, Research In Motion or Microsoft, have voiced an intention of joining the group. It seems that their participation would be crucial in making the ecosystem a success.

If the Wholesale Applications Community is successful, it will also create opportunities for companies that provide ancillary services.

For example, the proliferation of applications will expand mobile marketing and advertising across a broader range of devices and in new markets.

As a result, the Wholesale Applications Community will go toe to toe with Apple, on the heels of its acquisition of mobile ad network Quattro Wireless, and with Google following its imminent purchase of AdMob.

Application growth will also generate more traffic on the networks, putting added pressure on carriers to accelerate migration to 4G networks.

Infrastructure suppliers such as Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson will likely see a surge in the demand for LTE trials and deployments, but other companies, including Aircom, that provide network optimization services, should also benefit. 

According to Aircom, a carrier can expect OPEX costs to increase by as much as 30 percent when they roll out LTE, unless the right steps are taken during network planning. 

At Mobile World Congress, Aircom unveiled its LTE Fast Track Service, which may bring OPEX costs for LTE down to a more manageable 9-12 percent range.

A milieu of new applications should also generate more demand for Operations Support Systems and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) services, and put a higher premium on real-time charging and policy management for vendors such as Telcordia.

The carriers that are part of the Wholesale Applications Community should be able to make a lot more money in the long run. But it will be a tough balancing act to court developers and cultivate an applications community while simultaneously addressing the standards and infrastructure needed to make the ecosystem work.

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Layar bags honors at Mobile Premier Awards

Harald Neidhardt
Chief marketing officer and cofounder
Smaato Inc.
Hamburg, Germany

Hola from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona ? the place to be this week.

Nearly 50.000 visitors are expected to visit the GSM Association?s Mobile World Congress and Expo with 1,300 exhibitors spread across 130,000 square meters. It was raining yesterday, but I am sure everyone is relieved to be out of the snow in for a couple of days.

The much anticipated App Planet, having evoked a fantasy of a real huge scene event, is hosting real cool exhibitors. But the physical architecture of the ?planet? is not more than standard fair boxes ? beg your pardon, booths. Hall 7 is where mobile advertising networks such as AdMob, Mojiva and Smaato are situated, as well as Skype, serving the best coffee at MWC by far.

The Mobile Premier Awards (twitter tag: #mpa10) were presented yesterday by Rudy deWaele and hosted by dotopen in the wonderful venue, Palau de la Musica.

It was the fifth time the awards were hosted at MWC in Barcelona.

In total, eleven awards were presented in a five-hour ceremony in seven categories: entertainment, innovation ? early stage startup, female entrepreneurship, marketing, innovation ? emerging startup, user experience and social change. 

Layar was the winner of the day, collecting two awards ? entertainment and marketing ? and announcing a deal with a major handset manufacturer and a 3.4 million euro funding.

About 2,000 developers use Layar for their applications. Layar does not focus on banner ads, but aims to deliver valuable local based information to the user.

The award winners include Taxipal (MoMo Estonia ? Mobile Monday Chapters Award, early stage), Bipper Communication (MoMo Oslo, Jury Award, early stage), Percent Mobile (MoMo New York, Audience Award, early stage), Waze (MoMo Tel Aviv, MoMo Chapters Award, emerging, as well as the Smaato Mobile Award winner invited to the Smaato MWC booth this year), CloudMade (MoMo Stockholm, Jury Award, emerging), flook (User Experience, out of 115 entries) and fonYou (MoMo Barcelona, Audience Award, emerging).

The nominees list and presentations show heavy innovation activity around location-based services and will provide many opportunities for location-based advertising.

Besides, the mobile phone is also increasingly used as a social changer device. Examples include startups such as Rede Jovem (Brazilian Favela mapping project, MPA Social Change) and Red Salvavidas (MoMo Bogotá - application for orientation and fast communication in emergencies such as earthquakes) or spendino (MoMo Berlin, social giving via text messages) show.

Naturally, banner ads would hardly be appropriate in these applications which are more likely to attract sponsorships.

We are scouting for branded applications and marketer appearances throughout the week.

Yesterday saw the unveiling of Windows Mobile 7 by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and an announcement from carmaker Audi to collaborate with Qualcomm on the car application of the future, where a WiFi in the car enables all sorts of new services and devices to which to connect.

A new navigation system is also being envisioned with Google Earth leading the way through the streets.

Today, we see a new phone from sports brand Puma ( http://pumaphone.com/ with Sagem) that will have some cool new features including a solar panel and is unveiled ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. And there is today?s anticipated keynote by Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

We will come back tomorrow with more news from Barcelona. Hasta Lluego!