Shortly after Samsung introduced that it gained’t be attending the upcoming MWC Barcelona, Chinese {hardware} large (and Motorola father or mother) Lenovo has confirmed with TechCrunch that it has additionally determined to forgo the in-person occasion. The occasion is scheduled for June 28 to July 1.
“Lenovo is not attending in person but will participate in the virtual partner program,” the corporate mentioned in a quick assertion. The determination displays that of Samsung’s – opting to skip a sales space in favor of going all-virtual.
The transfer shouldn’t be notably shocking – and, as famous earlier, it’s laborious to shake the sensation we had early final 12 months, because the dominos began falling forward of the occasion’s cancelation (although by all accounts this 12 months’s MWC may have a bodily presence regardless). Google, IBM, Nokia, Sony, Oracle and Ericsson have all already confirmed they won’t be in attendance.
Some key {hardware} names are nonetheless up on the official MWC exhibitor record, together with ZTE, Xiaomi and LG – although issues are additional difficult by the truth that the latter latest introduced its exit from the smartphone enterprise.
Following Samsung’s announcement, the present’s governing board, the GSMA, instructed TechCrunch, “Of course we respect that planning in a pandemic is complicated. Samsung will adapt their presence to virtual for MWC21 and we look forward to seeing them in person 2022.” It’s secure to imagine the response is comparable for the second, although we’ll replace if we obtain further remark.
These bulletins are, little question, a large blow for MWC’s ambitions for a small return to normalcy this 12 months. But given journey restrictions in lots of locations because the pandemic continues to rage on in varied components of the world, it’s laborious to fault any of the businesses for his or her abundance of warning.
