The threat from the Coronavirus is real, especially for companies and employees in China. Coronavirus has now killed more people than SARS such is its threat. It is a major concern for anyone travelling at the moment and has caused significant concern for businesses sending staff to MWC.
Samsung is the latest big name to rethink its MWC attendance, announcing it will not be sending many of its executive staff. The obvious impact of this is the closed-door business deals that would happen at the show will be conducted elsewhere.
This adds to the total withdraw of LG from the conference, closely followed by Nvidia in the last 36 hours. Other companies have made statements that they will be altering their attendance plans and “taking precautions” amid the concerns.
Cnet reports:
Huawei and Oppo plan to quarantine their executives for 14 days before MWC starts, While Oppo will check the temperature of every person attending its events.
Other companies are also taking precautions to prevent risks to employees and attendees, like implementing strict sanitary and health procedures.
Cnet cites sources close to the company, stating that Samsung still plans to have a booth.This is good news for the MWC show, and for GSMA, as Samsung’s booth takes up an awful lot of space – to have it empty would be very, very noticeable. However, with the spread of the Coronavirus and the volume of attendees at MWC, Samsung’s plans to keep a booth could change too, as may others’.
At this time, Ausdroid is still planning on sending a small team to MW, but like many in this space, we’re watching the news (and the travel alerts) closely.
MWC has a huge impact on the mobile market each year, with many new announcements made, and lots of new and upcoming technology shown off to consumers and other manufacturers alike.
Should Samsung or one of the other major players decide to completely miss MWC 2020, the flow-on effect would be huge.
Wouldn’t blame Samsung for pulling out .