The show must go on

UPDATE Sept. 12, 2001: CTIA Wireless I.T. & Internet 2001 will continue, but this morning's keynote session has been cancelled. Two of the three speakers were unable to arrive in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 11, 2001 -- Tom Wheeler walked onto the stage at the San Diego Convention Center yesterday morning to address a sparsely populated and somber audience still stunned by the morning’s unprecedented events unfolding on the opposite side of the country.

“I would normally say, ‘Good Morning,’” Wheeler said to the crowd, which just minutes ago had seen an image of Osama bin Laden flash across the large TV screen serving as a stage backdrop at CTIA’s Wireless IT 2001 (www.wow-com.com) conference, currently being held here in southern California.

Calling the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon “dastardly deeds,” Wheeler, CTIA president & CEO, asked all attendees to keep the victims and their families “in our prayers.”

He asked the audience to rise for a moment of prayer. For that moment, executives, journalists, CTIA staff and others in the ballroom stood with bowed heads and prayed. “This event will go forward,” Wheeler then continued. “Evil will not prevail. This facility has a heightened level of security. … We must be reasoned and sobered in our approach. As we proceed, let us all keep in our hearts … throughout this conference the thousands of innocent victims, their families, our nation and our leaders.”

He then welcomed the first keynote speaker, Oracle Mobile’s (www.oracle.com)Jacob Christfort, onto the stage. Christfort, CTO & vice president of product development, discussed the industry’s drive toward wireless data services. Perhaps because it all seemed so trivial in comparison to the horrific images broadcast earlier in the morning, Christfort observed: “Checking stock quotes is not important; aiding rescue workers is.”

Wireless services were important yesterday both for actual rescue efforts, and to allow subscribers to account for family and friends.

Later in the day, New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani in a televised address made a point to thank Verizon (www.verizonwireless.com) for maintaining landline and wireless services in New York. In the San Diego Convention Center ballroom yesterday morning, conference attendees regularly took calls at their seats or as they left the room. People offered apologies as they took those calls hurriedly. At about 10:10 a.m. Pacific, President George W. Bush addressed the nation live on television. CTIA staff interrupted the proceedings in the ballroom during Christfort’s presentation for the address by the president, after which the schedule resumed with remarks from Al Zollar, Lotus president & CEO (www.lotus.com), who discussed IBM’s Lotus and its evolution to wirelessly enabling the enterprise. His comments, though focused on the business at hand, were somber.

The final keynote presenter was Juha Christensen, Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) vice president, mobility marketing, sales and solutions. His discussion with Wheeler centered on business issues as well, and also was respectful of the tragedy at hand.

In an interview with Wireless Review later that day, Christensen summed up the show as a good one “to take the pulse of the industry.”

Certainly, yesterday’s pulse was not normal.