play for the low-end market, was barely even close. Appropriately, the Cupertino, Calif. company, which has never officially attended Mobile World Congress, is shunning this year's show again.

Facebook's Opening Move

Another tech powerhouse from Silicon Valley is, however: Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. While it initially appeared his opening keynote speech was just going to be an opportunity to play up his philosophy of Facebook being a "mobile first" company, the still-warm acquisition of WhatsApp puts Facebook front and center in the quest to win mobile in the developing world.

Zuckerberg will likely mention Internet.org, Facebook's plan to connect the "rest" of the world to the Internet. With WhatsApp boasting almost half a billion users worldwide, most outside North America, chances are those smartphones that everyone expects to sell to emerging marketsit empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's record 42 million unique visitors worldwide and 21 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.