Due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the world's largest mobile phone exhibition MWC was officially cancelled, the first time in 33 years!

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For the first time in 33 years, MWC has been cancelled! After losing top exhibitors such as Sony, Ericsson, Nvidia, and Amazon, the organizer of the 2020 Mobile World Congress originally scheduled to be held in Barcelona, ​​GSMA, officially announced that the conference will be cancelled due to the withdrawal of many companies after the outbreak of the new coronavirus. Click the link on the right to go to the Xinzhiyuan applet to learn more!

For the first time in 33 years, MWC has been cancelled!

GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association), the organizer of the 2020 Mobile World Congress (MWC) originally scheduled to be held in Barcelona, ​​officially announced on Wednesday that the conference will be cancelled as many companies have withdrawn from the exhibition after the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

Upon hearing the news, Ding Xianfeng, chief scientist of Alibaba Cloud, lamented in his circle of friends: "Mobile World Congress has been cancelled. I guess GSMA has suffered heavy losses, and so have every household."

"Big-name guests" have withdrawn one after another, and the show has been cancelled for the first time in its 33-year history

This is the first time in the 33-year history of MWC Barcelona that the event, which draws more than 100,000 attendees from around the world to see the latest innovations in the mobile communications industry, pitch to investors and make deals, has been cancelled.

"Global concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, travel issues and other circumstances make it impossible for us to hold this event," John Hoffman, CEO of conference organizer GSMA, said in a statement.

The list of "big-name guests" began to crumble on Feb. 7, when Swedish wireless equipment maker Ericsson AB withdrew, saying it couldn't ensure the safety of its employees and customers. As other companies, from Sony Corp. to Nokia Oyj, Vodafone Group Ltd. and Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom, dropped out, it became harder for the remaining companies to justify their presence.

As of Tuesday, the death toll from the virus in China rose to 1,113, with 44,653 confirmed cases on the mainland.

MWC was originally scheduled to run from February 24 to February 27. The GSMA has stepped up health precautions to reassure attendees - advising against handshakes, introducing temperature scanners and protocols for changing microphones, and some delegations have replaced Chinese staff with colleagues from other countries or sent Chinese delegates ahead of time to avoid being banned from entering the country.

Big-name exhibitors spend tens of millions of dollars on the exhibition. What will happen to the GSMA budget after the cancellation?

Every year, the telecom heavyweights use MWC and the resulting hype to whip up a marketing frenzy around their latest products.

A big focus this year will be on fifth-generation mobile services, and now several companies will need to reschedule launch events. Chipmaking giant Intel, which had planned to announce 5G network products, will hold its unveiling at another time, according to a person familiar with the matter. Motorola is preparing to show off new 5G phones.

The smartphone industry is trying to stimulate stagnant growth with higher data speeds and faster response times. Smartphone shipments have been falling since 2016.

The decision to cancel MWC entirely was a difficult one, and it's unclear who will foot the bill - the participants or the GSMA. The industry's biggest players often spend tens of millions of dollars to exhibit, and Ericsson's absence alone left a hole on the show floor larger than a standard American football field.

Most of the GSMA's budget comes from this event, which charges 799 euros (6,054 yuan).

The cancellation of MWC has caused many companies to lose the opportunity to do deals with mobile operators in close proximity.

MWC is so important to Barcelona, ​​the second largest city in Spain, and many small companies! These companies not only lost an opportunity to participate in such a large-scale event, but also lost the opportunity to get close to a large number of mobile operators and consumers.

Large national contingents from Turkey to South Korea were already set to attend the conference to encourage deals and inward investment.

The Catalan regional government has been in contact with conference organizers and said there is no need to cancel events such as MWC, Alba Verges, head of the Catalan government's health department, said at a press conference in Barcelona.

South Korea's LG Electronics was among the first companies to reconsider its participation, noting last week that most health experts recommend minimizing "unnecessary" international travel that involves hundreds of employees at a time.

The global spread of the coronavirus has also affected other international conferences, such as Singapore's annual air show, which lost dozens of corporate attendees but went ahead as planned.

Formula One will postpone this year's Chinese Grand Prix due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Liberty Media Corp.-owned company said.