Mobile World Congress opens in Barcelona

More than 50,000 workers in the communications industry have swarmed to Barcelona for the annual Mobile World Congress.
With conferences and discussion forums attended by such experts as Steve Ballmer from Microsoft, Peter Chou from HTC and Eric Schmidt from Google, the four-day event that began Monday is considered the industry's most important gathering.
In addition to conferences and forums, there also is an exhibition attended by more than 1,300 companies, including hardware producers, network providers and software developers.
The vendors will display the products and technology that will be hitting the street in the near future.
Some of the exhibitors will showcase the new generation of mobile internet using 4G broadband, which can reach a speed of 100 Mbps -- around 15 times faster than current capabilities - and transmit high-definition television directly to mobile phones.
Mobile phones that can record and reproduce images in 3D are also expected to be shown at exhibition.
Meanwhile, the high-tech gala was expected to boost Barcelona's economy as reports have shown that the event has created a 16-percent increase in hotel bookings and a subsequent rise in income for restaurants and the city's approximately 10,500 taxis.
It was estimated that the influx of visitors to Barcelona will bring in around 225 million euros (303 million U.S. dollars).