MWC 2020 cancelled amid coronavirus fears

[Vulkan HeStan]

Original article

 

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The world's largest mobile phone showcase, Mobile World Congress (MWC), has been cancelled over coronavirus concerns, organisers have confirmed.

The GSM Association (GSMA) said it had become "impossible" for the event to go ahead as planned in Barcelona.

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Earlier this week, Amazon, Sony, LG Electronics, Ericsson, Facebook, and chipmakers Intel and Nvidia said they would not attend the conference. BT, Facebook, LG, Nokia, Sony and Vodafone were also among the high-profile exhibitors to have pulled out of the annual event, citing coronavirus fears.

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In a statement, GSMA chief executive John Hoffman said: "With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020."

He said "global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances" had made it impossible to hold the event.

 

If I'm being honest, personally, I think this is a massive overreaction. However, I think it must be difficult to continue with the event if big name companies have pulled out prior to the announcement. It must really suck though for all the smaller companies who had invested heavily into the event. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

I think a virus outbreak causing concern around the globe is reason enough to cancel a convention like that, personally.

 

That does really suck, I would have been interested to see what kind of things some of those companies would have to show off.

[soldier_ph]

Well this sucks, let's hope that China and the global community are able to reduce the spreading of the Virus and develop a vaccine for it. 

[Touch My Hamm]

Makes sense. We could start to see global impacts to this virus hitting china. Since alot of electronics and production is done there we could see changes in numerous areas. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

1 minute ago, GodSeph said:

Makes sense. We could start to see global impacts to this virus hitting china. Since alot of electronics and production is done there we could see changes in numerous areas. 

Hope we don't end up with another NAND shortage...

[Touch My Hamm]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Hope we don't end up with another NAND shortage...

Depending on how far the virus goes and until they find some way to combat it we could see price jumps in alot of types of parts...that would suck as I wanted to upgrade this year with Cometlake and Ampere /cry

[porina]

I'm partially surprised this didn't happen earlier. Big names have been pulling out for a while. I was wondering who was actually left to go there? The cost and risk to attend when most of the big players aren't there doesn't make sense any more. I'm guessing the organisers didn't want to rush the decision as it's going to cost them.

[Fasauceome]

I really want to go to the Philippines this March, but they hate China and our layover is in Hong Kong. If our flight doesn't get cancelled, I'll feel lucky at this point.

17 minutes ago, Vulkan HeStan said:

If I'm being honest, personally, I think this is a massive overreaction

*Tin foil hat on*

There are some allegations that China isn't being honest about the amount of cases of coronavirus, makes me wonder if there was some advisement from the Chinese government to an extent for these companies to pull out.

*Tin foil hat off*

[Sauron]

12 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I think a virus outbreak causing concern around the globe is reason enough to cancel a convention like that, personally.

Well... it wasn't cancelled for the ebola outbreak iirc, which was apparently much worse. Sure, that wasn't in countries where companies that regularly participate in MWC are but still... China is pretty large.

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

There are some allegations that China isn't being honest about the amount of cases of coronavirus, makes me wonder if there was some advisement from the Chinese government to an extent for these companies to pull out.

Wouldn't they want the exact opposite if they wanted to avoid alarming the world? They'd push for it to go forward and make sure companies send unaffected reps.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

Wouldn't they want the exact opposite if they wanted to avoid alarming the world? They'd push for it to go forward and make sure companies send unaffected reps.

On the one hand that may be the case, but on the other they have to take the infection seriously and international interference drawing more people to somewhere that may risk increasing infection rate would get the cat out of the bag much quicker.

[Sauron]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

On the one hand that may be the case, but on the other they have to take the infection seriously and international interference drawing more people to somewhere that may risk increasing infection rate would get the cat out of the bag much quicker.

Meh, from all the information I could gather the coronavirus isn't that bad. It's contagious and potentially deadly, sure, but it's only contagious after symptoms show up and its death rates aren't high, mostly concentrated in people who had preexisting conditions. There have been a few cases outside China so it's not like we're completely relying on Chinese sources - and even then it would have been very hard for China to control the narrative so effectively from the very start. Besides, they don't even really stand to gain anything from lying about something like this.

 

I know people like to paint the Chinese government as some sort of evil puppeteer with unscrutable motives but ultimately it's just an oligarchy with those in power doing everything they can to maintain it - I don't see how hiding a huge outbreak which isn't even their fault would contribute to that goal. It's not like Chernobyl where the catastrophe was directly caused by human error and hubris - it's just a viral outbreak.

[RejZoR]

It's been a month? with this coronavirus and everyone is freaking out like it's the new apocalypse. And yet all we have is an estimate of few thousand infected and few hundred deaths for which they aren't even 100% sure if it's from coronavirus or a common flu getting the weak like it does every single year since the dawn of time. All this happening in China, a country with highest population on Earth that counts around 1.5 billion people or so. If that number was in my country with 2.5 million people, I'd be freaking out too because 1000's would mean very high ratio. But in China, specifically in city Wuhan which has 4x the population of my entire country, I find numbers hilariously low and anything but alarming. This virus also doesn't have some special lethal ability. Which surely helps it spread coz it's not killing its hosts in matter of hours like ebola does, but it's not really killing people as a result either. I mean, you can't have it both, be supper infectious and super lethal coz then it'll self contain itself. Common flu kinda does the exact same thing. It's infectious, spreading and takes hundreds of thousands of lives every year, mostly among old and with pre-existing conditions and I don't see massive panic happening every single year. People just sort of die and no one really cares. But now, it's somehow different... It's just... weird.

[Devin92]

36 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Well... it wasn't cancelled for the ebola outbreak iirc, which was apparently much worse. Sure, that wasn't in countries where companies that regularly participate in MWC are but still... China is pretty large.

actually no. ebola can only transmit through contacting patient's fluid compared with this coronavarius transmitting through air. death rate means nothing if it can not spread easily. plus given china government is not really transparent about the situation, it's better planing for the worse for these big companies.

[Brooksie359]

1 hour ago, RejZoR said:

It's been a month? with this coronavirus and everyone is freaking out like it's the new apocalypse. And yet all we have is an estimate of few thousand infected and few hundred deaths for which they aren't even 100% sure if it's from coronavirus or a common flu getting the weak like it does every single year since the dawn of time. All this happening in China, a country with highest population on Earth that counts around 1.5 billion people or so. If that number was in my country with 2.5 million people, I'd be freaking out too because 1000's would mean very high ratio. But in China, specifically in city Wuhan which has 4x the population of my entire country, I find numbers hilariously low and anything but alarming. This virus also doesn't have some special lethal ability. Which surely helps it spread coz it's not killing its hosts in matter of hours like ebola does, but it's not really killing people as a result either. I mean, you can't have it both, be supper infectious and super lethal coz then it'll self contain itself. Common flu kinda does the exact same thing. It's infectious, spreading and takes hundreds of thousands of lives every year, mostly among old and with pre-existing conditions and I don't see massive panic happening every single year. People just sort of die and no one really cares. But now, it's somehow different... It's just... weird.

I worked at a nursing home while I was still in college and I can confirm that for old people the flu is quite deadly. The flu can turn into pneumonia fairly easily and once an old person get pneumonia the risk of death is pretty high. Saw countless people who looked healthy end up getting pneumonia and dying. 

[TigerHawk]

I can completely understand this reaction. For people who have never been to a large convention before, you (or someone you know) almost always gets sick from it. Tons of people all handling the same thing and no body washing their hands for hours?

 

There is something called the PAX flu(also GDQ Flu) but it basically applies to all conventions/large gatherings of people from around the world.

[williamcll]

7 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Hope we don't end up with another NAND shortage...

Korea seems to be handling incoming patients well enough to not impact production.

[Mihle]

Just a note, in %, Coronavirus IS much more deadly than flu, but in total numbers it's not yet because much much fewer have gotten it.

[Doobeedoo]

Oh well, we'll see more new phones eventually though. 

[Devin92]

11 hours ago, williamcll said:

Korea seems to be handling incoming patients well enough to not impact production.

Hyundai has delayed production since supply chain issue from china already.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/business/hyundai-south-korea-coronavirus.html

[Master Disaster]

21 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Hope we don't end up with another NAND shortage...

I watched a video a few days, China is for all intents and purposes shut down right now. Officially it should end in a week or so but the rumour is the Chinese government are going to keep everyone on lockdown indefinitely. If this does happen (and to add, I have no idea if they guy in the video was talking fact or fiction) then the price of everything will start to go up. China and Taiwan literally make almost everything that is used in almost every manufacturing process from textiles to electronics. They have town sized markets where you can buy almost anything any factory on the planet could ever need.

 

All that stuff has to now come from somewhere else.

 

He was saying it could be so bad that it might send China into a recession.

 

Again, I have no idea if any of what he said is true and tbh it did seem a little bit scaremongery but the basic premise of his arguments seemed sound.

[Bombastinator]

21 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

I really want to go to the Philippines this March, but they hate China and our layover is in Hong Kong. If our flight doesn't get cancelled, I'll feel lucky at this point.

*Tin foil hat on*

There are some allegations that China isn't being honest about the amount of cases of coronavirus, makes me wonder if there was some advisement from the Chinese government to an extent for these companies to pull out.

*Tin foil hat off*

The diagnosis thing got quasi-confirmed and possibly fixed.  The numbers are worse but not hella worse.  It looked like the thing was peaking and dropping off, but the change in diagnosis definition kept it more or less on the graph slope.  The Philippines reportedly does a lot of ‘unofficial’ under-the-table boat business with China, and they just had their first corona death.

[dizmo]

It's not an overreaction at all. Really, anything like this should be postponed until the virus is contained. Which won't happen anytime soon.

 

On 2/12/2020 at 2:15 PM, Sauron said:

Well... it wasn't cancelled for the ebola outbreak iirc, which was apparently much worse. Sure, that wasn't in countries where companies that regularly participate in MWC are but still... China is pretty large.

Wouldn't they want the exact opposite if they wanted to avoid alarming the world? They'd push for it to go forward and make sure companies send unaffected reps.

Ebola isn't an airborne virus, and as you stated, African countries don't really send representatives to MWC; even if they did, Ebola is only infections once symptoms show, so they'd be barred from entry to the country, and probably the flight. There's currently an Ebola epidemic in Africa that has killed twice the number COVID-19 has....but you don't really hear anything about it because it's not as contagious as far as it not being airborne (that, and, Africa).

On 2/12/2020 at 2:27 PM, Sauron said:

Meh, from all the information I could gather the coronavirus isn't that bad. It's contagious and potentially deadly, sure, but it's only contagious after symptoms show up and its death rates aren't high, mostly concentrated in people who had preexisting conditions. There have been a few cases outside China so it's not like we're completely relying on Chinese sources - and even then it would have been very hard for China to control the narrative so effectively from the very start. Besides, they don't even really stand to gain anything from lying about something like this.

 

I know people like to paint the Chinese government as some sort of evil puppeteer with unscrutable motives but ultimately it's just an oligarchy with those in power doing everything they can to maintain it - I don't see how hiding a huge outbreak which isn't even their fault would contribute to that goal. It's not like Chernobyl where the catastrophe was directly caused by human error and hubris - it's just a viral outbreak.

Haha, what? You didn't gather information very effectively then. COVID-19 is more certainly contagious before symptoms show. It's more of an issue of spreading the infection to countries with high populations and lower grade healthcare, as they'll be much more affected than first world countries, as is shown by what's happening in Wuhan. China has very good control over what information is released, as there have already been several cases of people going missing who were trying to report on the virus.

 

The viral outbreak shows how China can't properly care for it's own population, and shows how weak it's healthcare system is. Which isn't an image they'd like to portray, just like they don't want to portray the massive amounts of poverty in anything but the largest cities, the desolate cities that they built and no one moves into, their concentration camps in the northern region of the country, etc, etc.

On 2/12/2020 at 2:36 PM, RejZoR said:

It's been a month? with this coronavirus and everyone is freaking out like it's the new apocalypse. And yet all we have is an estimate of few thousand infected and few hundred deaths for which they aren't even 100% sure if it's from coronavirus or a common flu getting the weak like it does every single year since the dawn of time. All this happening in China, a country with highest population on Earth that counts around 1.5 billion people or so. If that number was in my country with 2.5 million people, I'd be freaking out too because 1000's would mean very high ratio. But in China, specifically in city Wuhan which has 4x the population of my entire country, I find numbers hilariously low and anything but alarming. This virus also doesn't have some special lethal ability. Which surely helps it spread coz it's not killing its hosts in matter of hours like ebola does, but it's not really killing people as a result either. I mean, you can't have it both, be supper infectious and super lethal coz then it'll self contain itself. Common flu kinda does the exact same thing. It's infectious, spreading and takes hundreds of thousands of lives every year, mostly among old and with pre-existing conditions and I don't see massive panic happening every single year. People just sort of die and no one really cares. But now, it's somehow different... It's just... weird.

Not sure where you get your numbers, but 60,000+ is hardly "a few thousand", and there's well over 1,000 deaths, far more than "a few hundred."

Ebola does not kill in a few hours. It takes 2 to 21 days.

It's pretty clear you lack any understanding of what you're talking about.

17 hours ago, Mihle said:

Just a note, in %, Coronavirus IS much more deadly than flu, but in total numbers it's not yet because much much fewer have gotten it.

What you said makes absolutely no sense.

9 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

Oh well, we'll see more new phones eventually though. 

It's not like the lack of an event is going to stop them from releasing them They'll still be released when they were planned, aside from perhaps issues with China delivering the items.

5 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

I watched a video a few days, China is for all intents and purposes shut down right now. Officially it should end in a week or so but the rumour is the Chinese government are going to keep everyone on lockdown indefinitely. If this does happen (and to add, I have no idea if they guy in the video was talking fact or fiction) then the price of everything will start to go up. China and Taiwan literally make almost everything that is used in almost every manufacturing process from textiles to electronics. They have town sized markets where you can buy almost anything any factory on the planet could ever need.

 

All that stuff has to now come from somewhere else.

 

He was saying it could be so bad that it might send China into a recession.

 

Again, I have no idea if any of what he said is true and tbh it did seem a little bit scaremongery but the basic premise of his arguments seemed sound.

It'd be interesting to see what would happen if China did indeed go into a recession. IIRC their currency is already rather unstable.

4 hours ago, Sushimus said:

I dont know much about the event as I dont really do mobile stuff but it wouldve been kool if they coordinated a massive livestreaming event instead of fully cancelling

Live stream....what? No one's going, there's nothing to stream.

[Bombastinator]

11 minutes ago, dizmo said:

It's not an overreaction at all. Really, anything like this should be postponed until the virus is contained. Which won't happen anytime soon.

 

Ebola isn't an airborne virus, and as you stated, African countries don't really send representatives to MWC; even if they did, Ebola is only infections once symptoms show, so they'd be barred from entry to the country, and probably the flight. There's currently an Ebola epidemic in Africa that has killed twice the number COVID-19 has....but you don't really hear anything about it because it's not as contagious as far as it not being airborne (that, and, Africa).

Haha, what? You didn't gather information very effectively then. COVID-19 is more certainly contagious before symptoms show. It's more of an issue of spreading the infection to countries with high populations and lower grade healthcare, as they'll be much more affected than first world countries, as is shown by what's happening in Wuhan. China has very good control over what information is released, as there have already been several cases of people going missing who were trying to report on the virus.

 

The viral outbreak shows how China can't properly care for it's own population, and shows how weak it's healthcare system is. Which isn't an image they'd like to portray, just like they don't want to portray the massive amounts of poverty in anything but the largest cities, the desolate cities that they built and no one moves into, their concentration camps in the northern region of the country, etc, etc.

Not sure where you get your numbers, but 60,000+ is hardly "a few thousand", and there's well over 1,000 deaths, far more than "a few hundred."

Ebola does not kill in a few hours. It takes 2 to 21 days.

It's pretty clear you lack any understanding of what you're talking about.

What you said makes absolutely no sense.

It's not like the lack of an event is going to stop them from releasing them They'll still be released when they were planned, aside from perhaps issues with China delivering the items.

It'd be interesting to see what would happen if China did indeed go into a recession. IIRC their currency is already rather unstable.

Live stream....what? No one's going, there's nothing to stream.

While the data on how the virus works seems more accurate The whole “trouncing on China for not containing thing” is kinda crap imho.  I don’t think a western country could have done better, maybe much worse.  They threw up hospitals in 10 days.  They instituted nation wide travel restrictions that got followed they locked down while cities.  Can you imagine even trying to do those things in the US?  It just wouldn’t work.

[dizmo]

22 minutes ago, Sushimus said:

@dizmo Like each manufacturer could show stuff off and do kool tech demos at scheduled times, but from wherever because they can all livestream from different locations

That'd take much, much too much planning to do so last minute, plus I imagine most of the companies would rather do something on their own time.

Since there's no gathering of reporters, having to follow someone else's schedule nets you nothing.

21 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

While the data on how the virus works seems more accurate The whole “trouncing on China for not containing thing” is kinda crap imho.  I don’t think a western country could have done better, maybe much worse.  They threw up hospitals in 10 days.  They instituted nation wide travel restrictions that got followed they locked down while cities.  Can you imagine even trying to do those things in the US?  It just wouldn’t work.

It's not about spread, that's largely unavoidable. It's about death rate. The Chinese medical system simply isn't set up to deal with something like this, especially in places like Wuhan...maybe in a larger city, but once you leave those China is very impoverished and proper services are few and far between.

 

I get the feeling you think they built an actual hospital in 10 days. They didn't. While they call it a hospital, it's merely a building with a bunch of units to keep people separated. There are no operating rooms, and it's not something that is anywhere near what a hospital in a more developed nation would be. While sure, the fact that it was assembled at all is a little impressive...but that's greatly diminished by the fact they can't assemble a proper medical system.

[Bombastinator]

4 minutes ago, dizmo said:

That'd take much, much too much planning to do so last minute, plus I imagine most of the companies would rather do something on their own time.

Since there's no gathering of reporters, having to follow someone else's schedule nets you nothing.

It's not about spread, that's largely unavoidable. It's about death rate. The Chinese medical system simply isn't set up to deal with something like this, especially in places like Wuhan...maybe in a larger city, but once you leave those China is very impoverished and proper services are few and far between.

 

I get the feeling you think they built an actual hospital in 10 days. They didn't. While they call it a hospital, it's merely a building with a bunch of units to keep people separated. There are no operating rooms, and it's not something that is anywhere near what a hospital in a more developed nation would be. While sure, the fact that it was assembled at all is a little impressive...but that's greatly diminished by the fact they can't assemble a proper medical system.

Wuhan is a tier 2 city. iirc. Not exactly the sticks, but my understanding is the sticks in China is a lot more impoverished than the sticks in the US.  A western country would have different problems.  People rushing off in cars to “avoid contamination” while bringing it with them.  People refusing to honor blockades, people refusing to take medication and lying about it.   The American populace isn’t more educated and willing to follow authority, they’re LESS educated and willing to follow authority.  I stand by my statement that I doubt we could do better.  Maybe not as well.  Different reasons but the result would be the same.