Nokia and HMD have followed other companies in canceling their participation at MWC 2020 keeping in mind the Coronavirus scare. Nokia first sent a press release announcing its decision to cancel its participation.
Espoo, Finland – Nokia has been carefully monitoring the situation following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, with the goal of making a fact-based decision related to our attendance at Mobile World Congress in 2020.
While the health and safety of our employees is our absolute priority, we also recognize that we have a responsibility to the industry and our customers. In view of this, we have taken the necessary time to evaluate a fast-moving situation, engage with the GSMA and other stakeholders, regularly consult external experts and authorities, and plan to manage risks based on a wide range of scenarios.
The conclusion of that process is that we believe the prudent decision is to cancel our participation at Mobile World Congress. We want to express our thanks to the GSMA, the governments of China and Spain as well as Catalonia’s Generalitat, and many others who have worked tirelessly to address the challenges resulting from the novel coronavirus, and they have our full support as they move forward.
Rather than meeting customers and stakeholders in Barcelona, Nokia plans to go directly to customers with a series of “Nokia Live” events aimed at showcasing the industry-leading demos and launches scheduled for MWC.
HMD followed suit and withdrew from MWC 2020. It still intends to launch its 2020 Nokia product lineup and will share its plan regarding this soon. HMD CPO also confirmed this on Twitter.
Health and safety of our employees, partners and media is our first priority. After carefully evaluating the situation, we have decided to cancel our MWC plans. We will get back to you soon with new date for introducing new awesome Nokia phoneshttps://t.co/FiOsuAj1cs
— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) February 12, 2020
We have closely monitored the development around the continued spread of Novel Coronavirus. After much deliberation, and following recommendations from the relevant health authorities, we have decided to withdraw from exhibiting and participating at MWC Barcelona, 2020.
MWC Barcelona has always been a key event in our annual calendar and we were very excited to showcase our new products to our partners, customers, media and fans. However, the health and safety of our employees, customers, and stakeholders is our highest priority. We still plan to showcase what we had lined up for our presence at MWC Barcelona and will share details on how we’ll do that soon.
