FADED IMAGES

Despite a CTIA show muted from previous editions, there were corners of the Orange County Convention Center that must have made attendees feel like they had been put into the way-back machine and transported to the good old days of 2000, when propaganda outweighed all. Scattered throughout the show, emanating from vendors big and small, the most hyped wireless application since digital coupons was appearing on mobile handset screens in the images of friends, family and co-workers. Wrapped in the neat envelope of multimedia messaging, vendors served up a vision of users being able to send photos and, soon after that, video. And while it is successful in Japan, where gadget mania rules, MMS is an application whose time has not come for U.S. users. Aside from the technical hurdle of convincing carriers to dedicate precious bandwidth to such services, vendors are missing the mark when it comes to finding a useful application for the technology. The industry is offering examples of a grandmother being able to see a photo or video of her grandchild. We've heard this before — reference the digital slideshow idea latched onto by some cable TV vendors but never adopted. Any concept that relies on Grandma using her new smartphone to receive pictures of her flock's newest addition is not only incongruous with reality but smacks of hype in search of a reality. It makes one yearn for the good old days.