Photos: From Sony Ericsson to Segways

With around 50,000 attendees, this year's 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona was the biggest in the show's history. Keynote speakers included Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer, Orange's chief executive Sanjiv Ahuja, Nokia's president Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, T-Mobile's chief executive officer Rene Obermann and Peter Erskine, the chairman and chief executive of O2.

Held in the Fira de Barcelona, the show accommodated a total of 962 companies — representing a 40 percent increase in exhibitor numbers since the 2005 event

The show brings together mobile technology aimed at consumers and business uers. Research in  Motion (RIM)  maker of the BlackBerry is one of the  strongest players in business mobility and has attracted a lot of attention due to its ongoing patent battle with NTP and the  recent release of its 8700 handset.

Sony Ericsson had some of the most innovative handsets aimed at consumers, including its Walkman range. The W800 (shown above) includes Sony's Walkman player technology and syncs, iPod-like, with the Music Desk Stand speaker system.

The hundreds of mobile companies represented at the show were prepared to employ some interesting tactics to get themselves noticed.

 Texas Instruments employed women on Segway scooters at the show entrance

Tucked discreetly out of the way on the second floor of Hall 2, the show's Adult Content zone shows that, as with the Internet, the adult industry is always at the forefront of any developments in content delivery.