每日英语：Missing at Mobile World Congress: Innovation

The hottest showcase for new technology at this year's Mobile World Congress wasn't in the event's cavernous exhibition halls. It was actually about two miles away, at an affiliated show for startups and venture capitalists.

showcase：展示，作品欣赏         cavernous：洞穴状的，空洞的            affiliated：附属的，联营的

In a makeshift array of stages, geodesic tents and seats made from beer crates, organizers of the spinoff gathering titled Four Years From Now, or 4YFN, played host to an array of mobile-related startups with products like GPS for motorcycle helmets, and an application for Google Inc.'s computer-enabled glasses that lets users buy things with a nod of the head.

spinoff：续集，副产品

'This is where the real innovation happens,' said Christopher Pommerening, co-founder of venture-capital firm Active Venture Partners, as a rock band blared on a nearby stage. 'Over there, innovation means having a phone that is a millimeter smaller than last year's.'

Innovation has been hard to come by in Barcelona this year. At over one million square feet, Mobile World Congress is the mobile industry's biggest yearly conference. But this year's show offered another cascade of glass-slab devices that varied in size and, maybe, color.

cascade：串联，级联

That stagnation reflects a broader shift in the mobile business, as the smartphone revolution nears the end of its first wave, with penetration beginning to plateau in developed countries. New advances are coming increasingly from pure tech companies developing new Web- and location-enabled services, or even tiny makers of apps and gadgets far away from the main action.

stagnation：停滞，萧条         penetration：渗透，突破          plateau：达到平衡，稳定    gadget：小配件

'Device innovation is maturing, and by definition slowing,' said Rick Clemmer, chief executive of chip maker NXP Semiconductors NV.

To be sure, this year's confab highlighted the growing number of mainstream companies selling nonphone gadgets that connect to the Internet, from cars that run apps to wearable devices that track your daily activity. But the advances on display were largely incremental.

confab：交谈，会议

Sony Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co. launched 'smart bands' similar to existing connected bracelets from companies like Fitbit. Samsung Electronics Co.'s new versions of its Gear smartwatch were notable mainly because the Korean company decided to forgo Google's dominant mobile operating system, Android.

forgo：放弃，停止

Some of the boldest new smartphone bets this year came from companies trying to make existing technology less expensive to boost sales in the developing world. Nokia Corp. this week introduced a new line of phones starting at around $120. Mozilla made waves with plans for a $25 smartphone. The innovation there isn't in the device, but in the context--expanding the reach of the Web.

'If we look at the perception of consumers, they are feeling innovation on devices has been slowing down in the last couple of years,' said Eric Xu, one of three rotating chief executives at Huawei, one of the world's largest smartphone makers. 'They don't feel strongly that there has been compelling innovation in devices.'

The slowing pace of change comes as the relationship between telecom firms and technology giants is becoming increasingly tense. Carriers chafe at paying to roll out expensive broadband networks, only for tech firms like Google and Apple Inc. to gobble up most of the value through mobile advertising and app revenue.

gobble up： 狼吞虎咽

At the same time, carriers know that pure tech companies, with their apps and services, help lure subscribers. This year, they invited Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg to give a keynote address on Monday night. Many like Telefónica SA have set up their own incubators to help nurture startups that they hope could turn into the next Facebook.

subscribers：订阅者，捐款人

'The next innovation might not be the size and shape of the smartphone but what you do with it,' said Anne Bouverot, director general of the GSMA, which represents mobile operators and runs the conference.

The sister 4YFN event is another effort by the telecom world to reach out to the tech community--to bring it into the tent, albeit a tent partway across town. Organizers created it less than a year ago, as the startup scene became an increasingly important part of the ecosystem around the yearly conference.

albeit：虽然，即使

The new event generated some buzz. Jan Koum, founder of messaging service WhatsApp Inc., which Facebook agreed last week to buy for $19 billion, stopped by for a panel on Tuesday. On Wednesday evening, Intel Corp. was among the companies wooing startups as part of a cocktail-hour discussion dubbed 'Wearable Wednesday,' dedicated to gadgets and apps that you wear.

'They call it 'Four Years From Now,' but it should be called 'Two Years From Now,'' said Miron Perel, an Israeli entrepreneur who was there to promote his startup. 'Some of the companies here are going to change the world.'