MWC is going going to happen from 24 to 27 February in Barcelona, Spain. Just a couple of weeks before the event major tech giants pull out from the event.
According to the latest report Amazon, Ericsson and Sony are withdrawing from this year’s Mobile world congress because of the risk of attendees could catch the coronavirus.
The coronavirus is originated in Wuhan city in China. We previously reported that the iPhone 9 and iPhone SE2 launch could be delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. And the effect of the virus can be seen in the MWC too.
To understand why companies are pulling off their names from the event. You need to know what is MWC
What is MWC
The Mobile World Congress is one of the largest tech events. It is also one of the largest gathering of mobile and telecom companies from across the world. The MWC happens every year in the last week of February or the first week of March. The event typically draws more than 100,000 attendees and over 2,400 companies, including the industry’s top players. Who uses the event to showcase their latest innovations.
But this year it will be missing exhibitors including Amazon, one of the biggest E-commerce and a $1 trillion company. The company is supposed to host a dozen sessions covering topics like 5G connectivity and artificial intelligence. In a statement the company said
Due to the outbreak and continued concerns about novel coronavirus, Amazon will withdraw from exhibiting and participating in Mobile World Congress 2020.
Ericsson also took put its name from the event. The company offers services, software, and infrastructure for telecommunication operators and will be giving up an important opportunity to promote its product in Barcelona. On taking its name the company said
Ericsson appreciates that GSMA have done everything they can to control the risk. However, as one of the largest exhibitors, Ericsson has thousands of visitors in its hall each day and even if the risk is low, the company cannot guarantee the health and safety of its employees and visitors.
Ericsson also said it will host a separate event and will demonstrate all its latest innovation that it created for MWC.
On the other hand, Sony said its press conference will now take place on YouTube. The chipmaker Nvidia also pulled out of this year’s event. In a blog post on Friday company said
Given public health risks around the coronavirus, ensuring the safety of our colleagues, partners and customers is our highest concern and we regret not attending, but believe this is the right decision.
In a statement, LG said withdrawing its name from the event will remove the risk of exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel. which becomes more restrictive as the virus continues to spread across borders.
What about the event then?
In a statement the GSMA (global system for mobile communication) said, the event will go ahead as planned. However, it will be restricting access for Chinese visitors because of the coronavirus outbreak in China. GSMA also mentioned Despite the withdrawal of some large exhibitors, we remain more than 2,800 exhibitors strong.
The GSMA association said it would be cautious throughout the event and would carry out temperature screening and increased cleaning of “high-volume touchpoints”.
High-volume touchpoints such as microphones, handrails and public touch screens, bathrooms, etc. It also said it would double the medical support at the event.
Well, the effect of coronavirus is clear and not only these but, other companies like TCL and software provider Amdocs also withdraws name from the MWC.
