I’ve got quite the laundry list of new mobile device technologies to evaluate at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this coming week. The list is even larger than the one I wrote about while en route to CES in January.

But my number one priority at MWC won’t be any of those cool new features for smartphones, tablets and PCs. First and foremost, I will be investigating alternatives for expanding wireless data capacity.

So why is a guy who makes a living analyzing mobile client technology trends paying such close attention to carrier deployment issues? It’s simple: no one will use the cool new features if the wireless network doesn’t have the capacity to support them.

Read the entire column HERE

People who have monkeys for pets should just go ahead and have kids, Jerry Seinfeld years ago joked in a standup bit about pet ownership. “If you need a pet that can roller skate and smoke cigars, it’s time to think about a family.”

When you boil it down, that’s why Microsoft’s new Surface Pro won’t rack up much in the way of sales. It’s an awful lot of computer trapped inside the body of a tablet. Which means tradeoffs.

With apologies to Seinfeld, if you’re thinking about Surface Pro ownership, then you’re so close. Just go out and get a real computer.

Most consumers will do just that. Many enterprise buyers, however, will be ordering a few Surface Pro’s. Click HERE to find out why.

In my last column, I offered PC vendors some advice on how to position Windows 8 systems. That’s not a miracle cure for solving PC players’ woes. All that will do is pry from the industry’s hand the pistol it’s using to shoot itself in the foot. PC vendors will need to do more if they want to re-inject excitement into their products and get their business back on a growth trajectory.

Here’s the bottom line: PC vendors need to incorporate model years into their product positioning. You know, like the automobile makers do.

Smartphones and tablets — the devices that are eating the PC’s lunch — exploit the model-year concept. Suppliers leverage their annual rollouts to generate pull from consumers, and consumers respond. PC vendors, meanwhile, continue to manage new releases like it’s 1999.

That’s not entirely the OEMs’ fault. But it is entirely their problem.

Implementing model years doesn’t have to be that complicated. Click HERE to find out how.