The annual 3GSM aka Mobile World Congress is now behind. Now I should have a good overview of the current mobile device and service offering at least in Europe. Some people say it was the best show since the exciting wap times, so much new ideas and new players (=new money) entering the market.

I wouldn't put it exactly in those terms. To be honest, I was quite bored scrolling through the aisles and booths. There were a lot of cool phones, yes, but to me they were all just some sort of copies of iPhone. There was touch-screen vertical, touch-screen horixontal, touch with scroll, touch with tactile feedback, touch for twisting and spredding and ... very touchy. But that was pretty much it.

What I am still waiting for, is to see Yahoo, Google or maybe even some unexpected 'wow' company from China, India, Latin America of even Africa to bring something TOTALLY DIFFERENT. I cannot exactly pinpoint what it is that I expect the internet guys to do, but I know it is not a 100 variations of touch screen. Hopefully the more mature Android demos will be impressive.

Nokia talking about context is a good start. I mean Nokia CEO talk about context, surely the research guys think it's yesterday's news.

All in all, I'm trying to decide wether it would pay off to go to CTIA next month to see if the US trade shows are any different nowadays. I am - I must admit - tempted to see more of the new US offering in this area. There's a lot of talk in the media about how the new players will change everything, but walking through the Fira... well it was not just very visible yet.

This sweetie from Intel was the capture of the week.