There were two distinct trends that came out of the Mobile World Congress show for 2008, held in Barcelona. The first is an assurance that manufacturers are introducing touch screen devices like the iPhone carries. The other was simply that everyone in the world is very eager to see what the new Android phones will look like when they are released. While there were not many official phones that will offer the Google Android system platform, there are several chip manufacturers who showed up to boast their prototypes and show off their proof-of-concept phones in Barcelona. Among those were Freescale, Marvell, NEC Electronics, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. These manufacturers had a variety of devices that showed what the Android phone is expected to look like when it is released later in the year.

It should also be noted that what the models mostly proved is that the specifications for the Android phones can be built and deployed quickly. While the Apple iPhone roll-out has gone basically as expected, with only one vendor supplying specified numbers to a variety of networks, the Android roll-out is expected to be far more chaotic. This expectation comes from the fact that the Android phone is designed to work anywhere. It will work first on any GSM network and once users have toggled with it for a spell, it will work anywhere else. This fact will make it very difficult for operators to predict where the demand will come from and how significant demand may be.

While Internet routing and fiber trunks are normally scaled far ahead of demand, mobile networks will be forced to route much more data both on and off the fiber for new clients. Equipment will need to be bought without the assurance of a quick return.
However, because of the iPhone network operators will have no choice in the matter. In the United States, Verizon and Sprint are seeing their best customers heading over to AT&T because of the iPhone. In order to keep up with customer demand, these companies must learn to compete with the iPhone’s capabilities.