But who came Top of the Class of 2010? Seven vendors took part this year -- Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. , Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), NEC Corp. (Tokyo: 6701), Nokia Networks , and ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763). They gave us a variety of viewpoints, though much of it (understandably) was centered around Long Term Evolution (LTE).
- MWC 2010 Photos: AlcaLu Booth Tour
- MWC 2010 Photos: Ericsson Booth Tour
- MWC 2010 Photos: Huawei Booth Tour
- MWC 2010 Photos: Motorola Booth Tour
- MWC 2010 Photos: NEC Booth Tour
- MWC 2010 Photos: Nokia Siemens Booth Tour
- MWC 2010 Photos: ZTE Booth Tour
So who came out on top? As the table below shows, it's hats off to NEC, which tied Nokia Siemens Networks for first. Both managed a B++ grade, but this was NEC's inaugural effort, while NSN had a year's experience to fall back on in its preparations, so extra kudos to NEC.
Table 1: MWC 2010 Booth Photo Tour Grades
Ranking | Vendor | MWC 2010 Photo Booth Tour Grade |
1 | NEC | B++ |
1 | NSN | B++ |
3 | Alcatel-Lucent | B+ |
3 | Ericsson | B+ |
3 | Huawei | B+ |
3 | Motorola | B+ |
7 | ZTE | B- |
Source: Our fevered imaginations |
The vendors tied for third place are listed in alphabetical order, as there was little, if nothing to differentiate them. ZTE must surely do better next year.
— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading