The cellular industry is so hot right now, CTIA can’t contain all of its advances in just one show. This week, the Wireless Association presents its second event of the year at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. With 10,000 attendees expected, this follow-up to April’s Las Vegas show and February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will focus on the IT and entertainment sides of the business. If you haven’t been to one of these shows and you work in the industry, they’re worth the trip. Lots of software and content providers will come to San Francisco, but many of the usual hardware providers and carriers will be there too.
For me, the highlights of the show are the keynotes. Besides the host, CTIA CEO Steve Largent, this program will include Yahoo! Mobile president Marco Boerries, T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse, Clearwire chairman Craig McCaw, Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen, and Trilogy Partnership founder John Stanton—heavy hitters, for sure. And new this year, a three-day special session called “What Teens Want” should give carriers and handset manufacturers some insights into this hot market segment.
The exhibits will feature a mixed bag of about 200 hardware, software, and content vendors showing their latest wares or just trying to get some visibility. There also will be dozens of great sessions, workshops, and seminars. It may be hard to see it all, so many attendees will choose a single path and following it through—exchanging breadth for serious technical depth. And, don’t forget the pavilions, such as the China/Taiwan, India, and Ontario showcases, in addition to highlights like the M2M Zone and the M-tertainment Pavilion.
As the machine-to-machine (M2M) movement continues its exceptional growth, the M2M Zone will spotlight this “hidden” cell-phone market, which is having an effect you cannot imagine. M2M, of course, involves the use of embedded cell phones for remote monitoring and control of anything anywhere via the wide-area network (WAN). The M-tertainment showcase will present the latest in mobile trends for downloading music, movie trailers, social networking, cutting-edge video games, and other such non-voice applications. I wonder if there will be any innovative breakthrough products or services.
Just in time for the CTIA show, the Electronic Design Group is launching a new title. Mobile Dev & Design will focus on the mobile and wireless space with a Web site, weekly e-mail newsletter, and monthly digital magazine. The site will go live on Monday, Sept. 15 at www.mobiledevdesign.com, featuring updates from CTIA including product announcements, keynote reports, and even video interviews. Check back daily for the latest scoop on your mobile needs.
CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2008