I first got a little suspicious a couple of weeks ago when I searched on the GSMA website. Looking through the list of Mobile World Congress exhibitors I noticed a couple of absences; Microsoft and BlackBerry. Neither was listed, and neither seemed very forthcoming in responding to my tweets asking about their plans for the event.
Seems we now have an answer courtesy of Telecoms.com.
@telecomssahota at telecoms.com has had a little more success and has spoken to Microsoft and BlackBerry directly. If it’s true and my suspicions were right, it’ll be a real shame.
I don’t see how either of these brands can afford NOT to be front of mind at this event. These are the two companies in the race to become the “third ecosystem”. Now, this may seem like a rather prosaic title but IMHO it’s going to be the most interesting battle of the year. There’s likely only room for one and neither can afford to fail.
So…no Apple, no BlackBerry and no Microsoft. Google must be rolling around in delight.
Maybe Microsoft just got tired of being situated opposite the CBOSS stand 😉
SaaS Toolkit 
“These are the two companies in the race to become the “third ecosystem”.
No they’re not Windows Phone has already taken over the third place spot. Blackberry is dead in the water and long gone. WP8 surprassed Blackberry long ago. Besides, most of you in the tech blogosphere don’t even like Microsoft or WP8.
Thanks for the comment Hubert. To be fair, this post was written well over a year ago (!), and in that time I would agree that WP has taken third spot. When this was written in 2013 I don’t believe it was clear-cut.
As a side-note. I’m a huge Microsoft fan (although I agree that there are many haters with no good reason to hate). This is really me!