Samsung Electronics scoops 5 GSMA Awards at Mobile World Congress 2013

Samsung won 5 GSMA Awards at the Mobile World Congress 2013. Having had consistent growth for the last three years, this is only just another feather in the cap of Samsung. The full list of winners here has 34 winners of separate categories and Samsung managed to etch out 5 for the Korean electronics company. Old time rival Apple wasn’t here this time as the best Mobile Tablet was snatched away by Asus who built Google’s Nexus 7 tablet. Nokia, the other rival in the mobile sector got away with one for the feature phone category while closer home, Safaricom wasn’t in the hall of fame this time round.

Samsung’s awards were:
Best Mobile Infrastructure – for the Smart LTE Networks. I have always thought Nokia Siemens Networks had the killer feature here with their Liquid Networks or Alcatel with their Light Radio, but no. Samsung’s 1 year old Smart LTE Networks won with LTE innovation acceleration and user experience enhancement by advanced radio scheduling, cloud computing, mobile content caching, real-time self-optimization and signaling reduction.

Judges’comments

“Integrating base stations and general-purpose IT servers to improve LTE performance and enable newer services also reduces costs significantly, demonstrating the benefits in competitive markets”

The other Award was Device Manufacturer of the year where judges said, and I quote

“The stand-out winner, a terrific year for Samsung as it continues to build a solid global business across its device portfolio.”

The Samsung Galaxy S 3 managed to stick at the top making Samsung win Best Smartphone. Notably, the Samsung Galaxy S II was Best Smartphone making Samsung a second time winner in that category. See what the judges had to say:

“With its ability to deliver in multiple markets, proven global adoption, and leading edge features such as Pop-Up Play video, Smart Stay screen and NFC, this is the Android success story.”

Best Mobile Enabled Consumer Electronics Device– Samsung Galaxy Camera. Who would’a thunk? That Samsung thinking to push in a camera with a huge lens in an almost-full smartphone would raise eyebrows? Well, there you have it. The connectivity 3G/4G and the fact that it runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean makes it a very connected device where users can take very professional photos and share without quality compromise. Judges thought,

“While other camera manufacturers are burying their heads in the sand over the threat posed by smartphones, this manufacturer has grabbed the bull by both horns and created an innovative product that has given a second life to compact cameras.”

Samsung also won Outstanding Overall Mobile Technology – The CTO’s choice for their LTE networks mentioned above here, making the Korean company hero at Mobile World Congress.