LIVE FROM HUAWEI MOBILE BROADBAND FORUM 2016, TOKYO: Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman and Rotating CEO at Huawei, announced the launch of X Labs, a new research platform designed to explore use cases for mobile applications, drive innovation, and promote an open industry ecosystem.

In the opening keynote at the Huawei Global MBB Forum in Tokyo, Hu revealed the company’s plans to open three separate labs to explore mobile broadband opportunities in key areas: people, verticals and households. Huawei has invited operators, technology providers and vertical industry partners to take part in the effort.

Breaking down the initiative, Hu said that mLab (short for “mobile experience”) will focus on exploring how to create and support immersive user experience in emerging mobile applications such as video, virtual reality and augmented reality. vLab will be centred around vertical applications and exploring how mobile technology can enable digital transformation, while hLab will research connecting households and leveraging household broadband to develop smart home applications.

Future of applications
During his speech, Hu spoke of a “wild world of applications” in the midst of explosive growth, and he called on the industry to tap into that opportunity by evolving their technology-centric networks to be more application-centric.

“In the future, I firmly believe that all services will be delivered through mobile applications,” he said. “It’s hard to estimate how many mobile applications there will be, but from a technology perspective, we can identify some key enablers. This includes mobile broadband networks, sensors, man-machine interfaces, cloud computing, big data and AI. All of these will give us a sense of where mobile applications are heading, and how they are going to change our lives.”