MWC is next week!

BARCELONA, SPAIN: The Mobile World Congress '14 in Barcelona begins next Monday, February 24th. You can expect to be overwhelmed with news releases describing a myriad of new chips, smartphones, tablets, gadgets, software and wireless service offerings.

As the largest and most significant of all global wireless gatherings, the key benefit to both exhibitors and attendees is the networking that enables even the smallest companies to mingle with the big ones that may become their customers or even their future acquirers. Individuals will be able to scope out much of the extensive wireless ecosystem.

Some things to expect at MWC:

* Nokia is expected to introduce their "forked" Android cellphone as well as new Lumia and Asha devices.

* MediaTek will showcase its MT6595, 4G LTE octa-core smartphone SoC.

* Broadcom will showcase mobile innovations for LTE Category 4.

* Intel will likely announce its first LTE cellphone modem socket.

* Qualcomm will continue to move the goalpost with its LTE-A Cat 6 Gobi 9x35 modem (with Anritsu demo).

* Lime Microsystems to demo its CMOS multi-standard/frequency single-chip LTE MIMO transceiver.

* Nujira to demonstrate full Envelope Tracking efficiency chips for TD-LTE PAs.

* Freescale will demo its small-cell base station chip offerings.

The author is president and Principal Analyst, Forward Concepts, USA.