MWC 2012: money talks in the world of mobile Outside the Fira conference centre, flag-waving protesters periodically screamed their anger at job cuts from shrinking giants such as HP. On Monday night exhibitors and attendees leaving late were shepherded out of a side entrance by the police who had only ever directed taxis in previous years. Spain's mounted officers, previously apparently only decorative, feared a riot and formed a barrier to keep the peace. Even before the show, too, this was an MWC that was always about economics. Transport workers threatened a mass strike that would have caused chaos. Taking a somewhat harsher line than countless European governments, the show's organisers said simply that a strike would mean MWC, an annual conference that makes a massive difference to Barcelona's economy every year, would find a new home for the future. The workers relented. And it was money that talked once the show finally got going: every attendee's pass was held round their neck by a lanyard that was sponsored by the huge - but still growing - Chinese manufacturer ZTE. Google's stand featured a helter-skelter and fairground-style machine where players could compete to "grab" a fluffy Android toy. Delegates eagerly queued for the chance. And Google's executive chairman used a keynote speech to argue that technology would enable a fairer world - he said that superfast broadband would enable a new future of "holopresence" where we could visit carnivals and concerts from our own homes. He warned against the first world ignoring what used to be called the third. Asked, however, if he would break US sanctions and offer services that he said were empowering to the citizens of Iran, Mr Schmidt was blunt. "No," he said, declining the chance to go to prison for his pains because "there's no bandwidth." Nevertheless, Google is today changing its privacy rules in defiance of an EU committee which believes the new rules are unlawful. Over at Facebook, meanwhile, the company wants users to pay for more goods and services with their mobiles, and is setting up what it hopes will become a global standard. Although payments was tipped to be a huge theme of MWC, money will talk only after such important infrastructure work is completed. In that sense this is a conference where, for all the hyperbole and the glamorous gadgets, everyone realizes that the "revolution" has hardly been started. It's obvious that the white heat of technology is hotter than ever but five billion of the world's people have yet to be warmed by its most potent symbol: the mobile phone.