Nokia and Sony join Ericsson and will not attend the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona due to the coronavirus

The celebration of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​whose organizers had guaranteed for next June, seems less and less certain. Following the decision announced yesterday by Ericsson not to attend the technology show, Nokia and Sony have announced today that they will not participate, at least in person, in this year’s event.

“Given the international nature of the event and with the global deployment of vaccines still in its early stages, we have made the thoughtful decision to participate in the event virtually only,” argued the Finnish company.

For its part, Sony Mobile has also confirmed, through a statement, the decision not to attend this year’s edition: “As the world changes more and more towards digital opportunities and online To prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, Sony Mobile will communicate in a way that can deliver exciting news about its products to a wider audience. ”

The announcement of the two technology companies, just one day after that of Ericsson, is reminiscent of the cascading cancellations of large companies for the edition that was due to take place in February 2020, when the Covid epidemic had not yet altered life in Europe . Last year, LG was the first company to decide to cancel its presence. Ericsson, Nvidia, Sony or Amazon followed suit in the following days and, in less than a week, GSMA decided to suspend the Mobile for health reasons.

The reasons given today by the two manufacturers are very similar to those used yesterday by the Swedish multinational, which through a statement stated: “In view of the continuous effects of Covid-19 and taking into account that our main responsibility is the health and well-being of our people, we have decided not to participate in MWC 2021. ”

The announcement of the three companies takes place precisely in the same week that GSMA has presented its health and safety plan for this year’s edition, which has been drawn up in coordination with the Generalitat de Catalunya and that it is open to modifications depending on the evolution of the pandemic.