Eric Schmidt’s 2012 Mobile World Congress Keynote [Live Blog][Updated With Video]


-Eric Schmidt is about to take the stage at Mobile World Congress and it’s anyone’s guess at what he will say but we’ll be here to give you up-to-date coverage just in case he spills the beans on the latest Jelly Bean rumors or the 7″ Google tablet. Stay tuned as we’ll have more for you as it develops.

-Eric Schmidt has taken the stage!

-Here comes Hugo Barra to talk about Chrome and Android. Chrome for Android is the topic and Eric Schmidt is pointing out that you should be using Chrome because it’s the safest, fastest, and best of all — it’s free!

-Hugo Barra is now showing off how fast Chrome for Android loads.

-Eric Schmidt talks about how Android’s pre-caching is the best in the industry.

-Hugo Barra is showing off link preview and tab navigation on Chrome for Android. Chrome for Android doesn’t have tab limitations and users can have as many open as they’d like (uh oh). Now showing off the card animation swipe gestures of tab browsing on Chrome for Android.

-Eric Schmidt talking about the benefits of Android’s new Ice Cream Sandwich UI.

-Hugo Barra now talking about the ability to take your desktop browsing experience with you thanks to Chrome for Android. He visits a site on his laptop, closes the laptop and then goes into Chrome for Android, clicks on other devices. He can now see the page he was viewing on his laptop. He proceeds to hit the back button and show off how Chrome for Android will sync not only the site you were viewing but your history as well.

-Hugo is now exiting the stage. Thanks Hugo!

-Eric Schmidt now talking about the current state of mobile around the world. Pointing out that while the amount of people connected is growing, it’s still a small number.

-Now talking about the future which he sees complete of unlimited computing power and storage. Talking about the science fiction and how Star Trek technology is becoming a reality.

-Uh oh, he’s now talking about robots!

-Talking about how technology will improve traffic safety. The Google driverless car.

-More future technology and how it applies to different industries and the mission of visionaries such as Steve Jobs to use this technology to shift the world.

-He’s now talking about “connected contributors.” A generation of people who grew up in a connected environment. A middle-class genre of people who can experience amazing moments they otherwise would’t, thanks to future technologies.

-He’s now talking about developers and how their code and tools have created amazing possibilites.

-He’s now talking about another generation of people who are still lacking the connectivity most of us take for granted. Talking about poorer communities and how they will slowly be able to implement data centers into these poor communities at minimal cost.

-Talking about data connections and how mobile doesn’t necessarily need a central hub or middle man. Talking about mesh networks and peer-to-peer connection between devices.

-Talking about how connectivity, well… makes us more connected.

-More talk about the future and the role technology plays.

Update: The video is now up on Youtube, here it is.

-That’s it! No Jelly Bean, no Google tablet, nothing! Well, we aren’t surprised. He’s taking questions now so perhaps he’ll let something slip.