A CTIA blog for the mobile masses

March 16, 1:31 pm: Another CTIA Wireless event is winding down, and for what seemed to be an extraordinarily busy show for all in attendance, there was really nothing in the way of milestone news, and many companies weren’t making any announcements at all. Coming just weeks after the 3GSM conference and a couple months after CES, CTIA Wireless 2005 may be the victim of bad timing--both of those other shows produced a significant chunk of wireless news, and it seemed a lot of the exhibitors and attendees here in New Orleans just didn’t have any more bullets in their holsters. Worth noting is that CTIA Wireless 2006 doesn’t begin until April 6--not only will that allow wireless firms more time between major conventions, but it means I won’t have to miss any of the NCAA basketball tournament because I’m stuck on an airplane coming home from the show. —Jason Ankeny

March 16, 10:55 am: We're now in Hour 17 of our Wireless 2005 Flood Watch... We are all soaked through to the bone, but a motley crew of stragglers remains here on the last day of the show trying to get you all the latest news and information right up until the bitter water-logged end of this event. Of course, now we're doing it from memory, since our notebooks were last seen floating toward the gulf... —Dan O'Shea

March 16, 10:01 am: Did you know that almost 25% of the products submitted to the Wi-Fi Alliance for certification testing actually fail that process the first time around? Alliance chief Frank Hanzlik said that isn't a bad thing--more and more companies are looking to the alliance certification stage as the final stage in their own pre-commercial quality assurance process... —Dan O'Shea

March 15, 2:22 pm: On the CTIA show floor, word was spreading earlier today than Bernie Ebbers had been found guilty on all counts. Though this was supposed to be pretty surprising news, it seemed to be greeted with a collective shrug by wireless vendors who felt there were more important thngs to talk about. Maybe they don't realize the monumental shift that is occurring. The way companies are managed may have changed for good with this verdict. The power now belongs fully in the hands of corporate boards and the clean-up crews they hire in the wake of scandal, not that either of these groups are infalliable. (Ask Stonecipher...) The bad CEOs are being put away, and what it leaves is less desire for others to take the risk of trying to become good CEOs. This is a lament, and no more than that... —Dan O'Shea

March 15, 1:17 pm: Cingular today announced an exclusive mobile content deal based on the “Star Wars” franchise, timed to coincide with the release of the next and final film entry, “Revenge of the Sith,” hitting theatres this summer. As a thirtysomething who lived and breathed “Star Wars” during its original heyday of the late 1970s and early 1980s, I can’t help but find this development pretty cool--I’m particularly intrigued by the “Ask Yoda” application, which presumably channels the power of the Force to answer all of life’s nagging riddles. My colleague Dan O’Shea agrees with me that the real pick-to-click here is the Chewbacca ringtone, which captures the guttural native tongue of everyone’s favorite Wookie--make Chewie’s “awwhraghhawwh” into a ringback tone, and I’m sold. —Jason Ankeny

March 15, 12:09 pm: Later today, Telcordia is announcing that its sale to Warburg Pincus and Providence Equity is final. "We're excited to be unleashed," said Telcordia CEO Matt Desch today from the CTIA show floor. "Our core strategy is helping our customers transform their businesses, and it's nice to be going through a transformation ourselves." Faux champagne at the Telcordia booth at 3 today--maybe the Irish VCs will bring over some of the Guinness they were pouring yesterday. —Jason Meyers

March 14, 4:45 pm: So, the final word on the "Is EV-DV dead?" question--one that was probed in depth by our own Kevin Fitchard in this week's issue of Telephony--is that EV-DV is dead, even though the powers that be in the CDMA world are not exactly putting it that way. Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDMA Development Group, told me this morning that CDMA proponents opted to let the market decide about EV-DV, and that the market decided that the better and more efficient way to add the "V" to an offering was to do it by adding voice over IP to EV-DO. (This just occured to me: We could just call it EV-DVoIP. Nah, too acronymish...) However, LaForge stopped short of using the "d" word. "I would never, in the wireless industry, say anything is dead," he said. "Clearly it's been de-emphasized across the board." Gotcha. For our next article on the topic, instead of asking "Is EV-DV dead?" in the headline, we'll ask "Is EV-DV being de-emphasized across the board?" —Jason Meyers

March 14, 4:34 pm: As it did last year, Sorrent’s latest annual research profile of the U.S. mobile entertainment consumer base yields some interesting information on this fast-growing customer segment. According to Sorrent, tweens--i.e. kids aged 10 to 13--led overall mobile game usage, with more than 84% of respondents playing games on their handsets at least once per day. Tweens also ranked among the top segments for overall mobile content usage. Sorrent’s still crunching the raw data, so it’s tough to speculate just how large this tween segment may be, but it looks to be a huge market for content developers and carriers alike. What I want to know is where and how these tweens convinced their parents they needed mobile phones in the first place, and how they’re making enough money to consume so much premium content--just how much can you make mowing lawns these days, anyway? —Jason Ankeny

March 14, 3:17 pm: Everyone from P. Diddy to Steve Largent (together not only in this sentence, but onstage this morning at the show as well) is talking about the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model and the mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) strategy backing MVNOs behind the scenes. The equipment and software vendors have these sectors squarely in their sights, and it's going to be the main vehicle that gets anyone and everyone who wants to get into wireless in--and fast. (Forgive the shameless self-promotion, but the cover story of the March issue of Wireless Review is all about Sky Dayton's new MVNO effort with Earthlink. Check it out here.) —Jason Meyers

March 14, 1:14 pm: The interesting part of P. Diddy's keynote at Wireless 2005 was almost smothered by his self-love, but not completely... His realization that "I am an MVNO" may be an entirely correct declaration that the wireless industry hasn't completely come to grips with yet. The industry is still focusing on which global corporate brands will produce the greatest MVNOs, but hasn't quite caught on to the celebrity factor yet. As for P. Diddy's statement about the people who buy his music and clothes and watch him on TV--"I know what they will buy, and I can give it to them. I will show them the way"--well, that sounded kinda creepy... —Dan O'Shea

March 14, 11:15 am: Grist for the rumor mill: Scuttlebutt on the CTIA's Wireless Home is that it was lifted wholesale from the CES. If that's true, at least the wireless asociation did take the time to remove the "ES" from the home's front door and replace it with "TIA."

March 14, 8:59 am: I love this filthy, depraved town and I’m thrilled the CTIA Wireless event is here again, but the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is a nightmare. It’s ridiculously spread out--upon entering the building, it took me about 15 minutes just to walk to the site of this year’s opening keynote address. People travel shorter distances than this during charity walk-a-thons. On a somewhat related note, the line for Starbucks currently stretches to about 75 caffeine-deprived CTIA attendees. More absurdities to follow, no doubt. —Jason Ankeny

March 14, 8:50 am: Not that it's all about us, but someone at the CTIA should understand that the press is friend, not enemy, to the successful exposure and coverage of their show. Their gestapo-like tactics at the entrance to the media center are creating a bad vibe. Beware the poison pen...

March 14, 8:41 am: “Who Nextel?” “Who Cingular?” “Who T-Mobile?” And most of all, “Who Mike Jones?” Such are the enigmatic if grammatically challenged questions posed in a series of guerrilla-marketing posters affixed to utility poles and lampposts throughout the Crescent City as CTIA Wireless 2005 gets underway. The posters are uniformly black, with large white letters asking the aforementioned questions--there are no clues to their origins, or just what the hell they mean. Personally, I know Nextel, Cingular and T-Mobile, but yeah, Who Mike Jones? Is he a local politician? Or maybe a rapper? Come to think of it, wasn’t he in my seventh-grade gym class? Updates as I have them, although I fear the riddle of “Who Mike Jones?” may go down among the great mysteries of our time--e.g., what is the meaning of life? Who built the pyramids? And did we ever learn who let the dogs out? —Jason Ankeny

March 10: Check out the Editor's Letter in this month's Wireless Review issue to see which members of our staff you might be running into (or backing nervously away from) in New Orleans. And watch out for that guy with the cup in his hand--wild, persistent gesturing and piping-hot coffee have never gone together all that well. --Chip Howard

March 9: Check this space regularly during CTIA 2005 for noteworthy observations, comments and other random thoughts from the editors of Telephony & Wireless Review