Forced cancellation of Mobile World Congress 2020

The largest mobile event Mobile World Congress was to be held on February 24-27 in Barcelona but was unexpectedly canceled less than two weeks before the start. In recent days, most awaited companies refused to attend the MWC due to the coronavirus outbreak. Among them are Amazon, AT&T, Ericsson, LG, ZTE, Cisco, Nokia, BT, HMD, and others. As a result, the great show lost its value to visitors and closed. 

Earlier the organizers of the event, GSMA, provided disinfection and even banned the participation of people from some provinces of China. Even though all necessary steps have been taken in Barcelona to ensure the social health of Spain residents and its visitors, the company's representatives are afraid of the current situation in the world. They do not risk to go to such a mass event. We remind you that every year more than 100,000 decision-makers come to Barcelona to explore innovations at the MWC. 

^{Image source: MWC}

As organizers of the event have noted, the city administration has taken the situation with understanding and plans to continue cooperation in the organization of follow-up events.

It’s worth noting that the cancellation of MWC 2020 will inevitably have a negative impact on the sales of companies in the near future as well as financial losses due to preparations for the exhibition. It is clear that the economic effect of almost 500 million euros from the event will not be achieved, either that GSMA has suffered huge losses. 

The next question that worries many technology companies is whether we should expect the cancellation of other large-scale events such as Embedded World? So far, there's no information about this on the official website, and we hope that this event will not repeat the fate of MWC. We are also sure that the organizers will take care of the visitors’ safety. We will be glad to see you on Feb 25-27 in Nuremberg. 

Related article: MWC 2019: our exhibit notes from the world's largest mobile event (tips for exhibition visitors inside)