I didn’t expect to come out laughing. It also probably wasn’t quite what the presenters intended. But here on day 2 of the Mobile World Congress, the CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the world had us in stitches as we emerged blinking into the mid-morning Barcelona sunlight.

Cesar Alierta got it going. Telefonica’s Executive Chairman was discussing the benefits of nurturing entrepreneurial spirit and risk-taking mentalities as we struggle to cope with the recession. He instantly made us all feel a whole lot better by explaining that we only need to succeed 65% of the time. This is what he tells his lucky managers at Telefonica. Even with a 35% failure rate they’re on track for success. I’ll be calling my boss later this evening to pass on this pearl of wisdom. Too bad he completed my performance review last week.

Steve Ballmer also cheered us up. We were grateful to hear the Microsoft CEO explain that all this recession and depression stuff is really just an “economic reset”. That’s right – an economic reset. I guess a quick CTRL-ALT-DELETE and RESTART should sort out the credit crunch then. I knew computers were pretty powerful these days, but I had no idea they could do this. Thanks Steve.

Vittorio Colao Chief Executive of Vodafone didn’t let the side down either. “Please don’t call me a carrier” he pleaded. Perhaps I was the only one laughing at that line – I thought it was a joke. There was a serious point in there somewhere. Something about operators operate so they should be called operators, not carriers (confused?). I guess when you make CEO at a company as large as Vodafone, you can ask to be called whatever you want – and get it. It reminds me of the old joke about what do you call a gorilla with a machine gun? – Sir. (Well it was funny when I was 12).

There was also something quite humorous (though again without much intent) in the CEOs tripping over each other to be the first to achieve the utopian state of openness. It went something like this:

“We’re more open than you”. “No we’re more open than you”. “I have an idea – let’s all be open together and then we won’t have to fight about who is truly the most open of us all”.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President & CEO of Nokia was at it. So was Mr Ballmer but he did frequently  -and refreshingly – slip back into “we’re going to kick your ass” mode.

The trouble is (this is the serious bit) they’ll never get this mobile services thing fully open because they’re pushing at the door from both sides. The carriers (sorry, operators) want less OS fragmentation because it’s all getting a touch too confusing for their customers. But almost in the same breath as they make this request they extol the virtues of the iPhone, which – last time I checked – is available from only one carrier in each market – so hardly open according to any reasonable interpretation of the term. Capitalism may not be flavor of the month right now, but let’s give good old open-market competition a chance to whittle the mobile OS range down to a manageable number before we sacrifice that competition in the name of openness – whatever it means.

But this serious stuff was just a brief interlude before we were chortling again as the CEOs discussed something about smart shops replacing dumb pipes, and  app stores opening up at a pace only matched by the speed at which the recession is closing down physical retail stores. Irony is funny right?

But among the laughter there was also real optimism – lots of it. This whole Smartphone thing is really taking off. Demand for anywhere-anytime connectivity is exploding. Consumers want ubiquitous access, faster throughput, and richer services. This industry is finally starting to deliver on what kids want. It’s no longer designing products based on the tastes and desires of predominantly male, 40-something executives in suits. Mobile access to social networking is a great example. We finally get it. Right after I phone my boss about the performance thing, I’ll be straight onto SpaceBook and MyFace to see who’s been poking me. We get it alright.