Mobile World Congress 2011: Great expectations

HTC is renowned for launching a plethora of new devices in one go and with its press conference set for Tuesday morning, we are unlikely to have long to wait until we get a first look at the handsets.

However, the major rumour doing the rounds is that HTC will also be launching its own tablet device going by the name of the HTC Flyer.

The tablet is expected to come in at seven inches, placing it directly in competition with Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Dell's upcoming seven inch Streak. It's also rumoured to look like a giant version of the company's flagship mobile handset, the HTC Desire.

Little more information has come to light, except it is likely to run Android 2.3 with an update to Honeycomb shortly after.

Will the growing base of Android-based HTC fans flock towards a super-sized Desire or will it get lost in the forest of tablets being announced in these opening months of 2011?

1:1 time with HP and BlackBerry tablets

The above-mentioned tablets will undoubtedly cause a stir, but the debate continues as to whether tablets are suitable for the enterprise market.

The lack of a physical keyboard on most is only one of the minor issues something many have tried to remedy with add-ons.

Security is still a massive problem though and the continuation of what analysts deem the "consumerisation" of corporate IT is leaving tech departments with the challenge of allowing employees to use their own devices whilst keeping the company network secure.

Nonetheless, tablets are working their way into organisations both big and small, and the exhibition of two from trusted enterprise manufacturers has got the business world excited.

The upcoming tablets from both BlackBerry and HP may have been announced already but MWC will give a lot of people a first chance to really play with the devices.

We at IT PRO are especially excited at the possibility of getting some hands-on time with the HP TouchPad, following its announcement this week, as the mixture of HP's business expertise along with Palm's webOS is sure to delight.

Although BlackBerry's PlayBook was on show at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas back in January, it is getting closer and closer to the launch date in Europe, so MWC will also be a good chance to get to grips with the device and any updates it has incorporated since the tablet was announced.

Research in Motion (RIM) is also expected to launch a number of new mobile handsets, including a continued push into touch screen devices following the success of the BlackBerry Torch.

With the growing popularity of Apple and Android devices in the workplace, will this be BlackBerry's play to keep the enterprise customer on board?

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.