GSMA Announces New Developments for Mobile Asia Expo

- New Companies Participating at MAE Include Cisco, Huawei, IBM, PayPal and Tencent; China Mobile and RIM to Hold App Developer Conferences in App Planet

LONDON, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The GSMA, organisers of Mobile World Congress, the mobile industry’s premier event, today outlined new developments for the upcoming Mobile Asia Expo, which will be held 20-22 June 2012 at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre in Shanghai. The GSMA introduced new elements for Mobile Asia Expo and announced additional companies exhibiting, sponsoring and supporting the event. The company also provided further updates on the conference programme at Mobile Asia Expo, including newly confirmed speakers.

"Mobile Asia Expo will spotlight companies who are taking a leading role in the Asian mobile industry," said Michael O'Hara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. "Across the event, in the conference, the exhibition and through networking and business development activities, attendees will have the opportunity to hear from some of the most innovative players in the broad mobile ecosystem."

Organisations including Cisco, Game Insight, Huawei, Mozilla, PayPal, SanDisk and Tencent have signed on to participate at Mobile Asia Expo, joining previously announced exhibitors such as China Mobile, China Unicom, Datang Telecom Group, MasterCard, NEC, NTT DOCOMO, Visa, Yahoo! and ZTE, among others. New for Mobile Asia Expo, the exhibition will feature the Innovation Lab, which provides a platform through which companies can highlight products and services and which will be open to all Mobile Asia Expo attendees. Orange is the Platinum Sponsor of the Innovation Lab; other companies currently scheduled to present in the Innovation Lab include Ezetop, IBM, Infinite Convergence, National Instruments and The Now Factory. For more information on the exhibition, please visit http://www.mobileasiaexpo.com/expo-overview.

Shanghai Media Group (SMG), a highly influential media group in China with one of the world's largest portfolio of TV, online, radio, print and other media assets, has been named a Platinum Media Partner for Mobile Asia Expo. A key SMG media company, BesTV, will be present on the exhibition floor at Mobile Asia Expo and will host programming featuring executive interviews, mobile industry news, profiles of mobile startups and much more.

New Speakers Announced for Mobile Asia Expo Conference
A key element of Mobile Asia Expo, the two-day conference programme will include focused breakout sessions providing essential insights on current and future trends impacting the ever-changing mobile industry. Topics to be addressed in the Mobile Asia Expo conference include applications, devices, embedded mobile, mobile advertising, mobile broadband, mobile health, mobile Internet, mobile money, mobile operator strategies, network evolution, NFC, retail in mobile and social media, among others. The conference agenda will feature presentations from many prominent speakers including:

• Kelly Ahuja, SVP, General Manager, Mobile Internet Technology Group, Cisco
• Dr. Chen Shanzhi, CTO, Datang Telecom Group
• Vivek Bhan, SVP, Wireless Semiconductors, Fujitsu
• Dr. Hyunmi Yang, EVP, KT Corporation
• James Anderson, Group Head and SVP, Mobile Product Development, MasterCard
• Tomer Kagan, CEO and Co-Founder, Quixey
• Dr. Jin Sung Choi, SVP and Head of Technology Strategy, SK Telecom
• Charlie Liu, CTO and VP, Sony Mobile Communications China
• Dr. Hugh Bradlow, CTO, Telstra  
• Steven Hopcraft, CTO, TRUE Corp.
• Leo Jian Yao, CTO, Youku

These executives join the previously announced keynote speakers including:

• Xi Guohua, Chairman, China Mobile
• Franco Bernabè, Chairman, GSMA and Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia Group
• Ryan Ding, CEO, Carrier Business Group, Huawei
• Olivier Puech, President, Asia Pacific, Nokia
• Napoleon Nazareno, President and CEO, Smart Communications
• Shi Lirong, President, ZTE

App Planet: Focus on Developers
In App Planet at Mobile Asia Expo, China Mobile and RIM will both be holding application developer conferences, addressing the rapidly growing mobile app developer community. App Planet presents opportunities for developers and mobile professionals, from operators to value-added service providers to equipment and device manufacturers from around the world, to expand their knowledge as well as connect with other major apps influencers.

The GSMA will also be announcing the winner of its "Smarter App Challenge" developer competition at Mobile Asia Expo. This challenge calls on all developers to submit their commercially available mobile apps, on any platform, that meet the growing market need for greater efficiency as defined in the GSMA App Efficiency guidelines launched at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. The challenge is currently open and will run through 16th May with the grand prize winner receiving $10,000 and a trip for two to Mobile Asia Expo. For full criteria, eligibility and other information, please visit www.mobileappchallenge.com/smarterapp.

GTI Asia Conference at Mobile Asia Expo
The Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) announced that it will host its GTI Asia Conference at Mobile Asia Expo on Wednesday, 20th June at the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel in Shanghai. The conference will focus on driving the widespread commercial deployment of TD-LTE technology in Asia-Pacific region. In this programme, attendees will hear from Chinese government officials on the development of this market, as well as from operators and vendors who are pioneering the implementation of TD-LTE.

For more information on Mobile Asia Expo 2012, including details on how to attend, exhibit or sponsor, please visit www.mobileasiaexpo.com.

About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organisations. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.

For more information, please visit Mobile World Live, the online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com or the GSMA corporate website at http://www.gsmworld.com.