Despite increasing COVID-19 cases across the world, Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2022 is still planned to go ahead in an in-person form. GSMA, the organization behind the show, believes its precautionary measures will ensure the safety of the attendees. However, it hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the event being online-only if things get worse in the coming weeks. MWC 2022 is scheduled to take place between February 28 and March 3.
“Planning for MWC remains dynamic given the ever-changing global circumstances,” GSMA told TechCrunch. “We are continuously responding to the latest information available from various officials and adapt plans accordingly.”
MWC is one of the most popular tech events in the world. It sees several major manufacturers introduce their latest mobile products. The event usually takes place at the end of February in Barcelona. But last year’s edition was postponed to June and scaled back to reduce the risk of COVID-19, while MWC 2020 was canceled altogether.
So the 2022 edition of MWC would have been the first in three years to take place in its traditional time slot and its usual capacity. But the show is now in jeopardy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Though GSMA is confident of putting together a physical show, many exhibitors will likely pull out of it. Perhaps there’s a great chance that the event will once again be an online-only affair. Things should get clearer in the coming weeks.
“Our teams are busy preparing for MWC Barcelona scheduled to take place at the end of February and we encourage you to check our website for all the information you need on planning a safe experience for 2022,” GSMA said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already derailed several major events this year
The ongoing concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic have derailed several major events across the world. Most major CES 2022 exhibitors pulled out of having a physical presence at the event due to the pandemic. While the annual trade show in Las Vegas still went ahead in a physical form, the organizers took off a day over safety concerns.
Things are now looking worse for upcoming events as the latest Omicron variant of the Coronavirus continues to spread globally. Organizers of the Electronic Entertainment Expo aka E3 — one of the largest video gaming conventions globally — have already decided to go fully virtual this year. This will be the third year in a row that the game show will skip an in-person show.
Other events affected by COVID-19 include the Grammys awards show and the Sundance Film Festival. The former was scheduled for January 31 but has now been indefinitely postponed. The latter will go ahead on its original schedule of January 20 to January 30 but will air online only. Stay tuned to find out the fate of MWC 2022.
2022-01-10 15:06:05