Recently in conventions and expos Category
Taking place November 19-20, at Hotel 480 in San Francisco, The Open Mobile Summit features industry heavyweight speakers from both the wireless establishment - mobile operators, handset manufacturers and software giants - as well as Internet, WiMAX, VoIP and mobile web players.
Scheduled keynote speakers at the Open Mobile Summit include Marco Boerries EVP Yahoo!, Barry West President XOHM Sprint, Rich Minor GM Mobile Google, Len Lauer COO Qualcomm, Rich Green EVP Sun Microsystems and Mary McDowell EVP and CDO Nokia. The event also features top execs from T-Mobile, Verizon, Amazon, Research In Motion, LG, AOL, Symbian and more. More information is available at http://www.openmobilesummit.com/
Last week there were new announcements and findings from CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment. Attendees took part in an expanded education series, browsed new
products from more than 250 exhibitors and heard from industry
luminaries who discussed the future of wireless technology as the
industry approaches its 25th anniversary. Research
CTIA and Harris Interactive discussed their teen study and Cell Phones.
The Neilsen tween study showed 46% of Tweens Use Cell Phones / 55% Text.
New Smartphone and Cell Phones
New cell phones included the Velocity 111, Velocity 103, Elektrobit Sat Phone
without an antenna, 3G Virgin Mobile Shuttle, Asus and 552w Smartphone with Glide UI.
Sprint announced the Motorola i576, HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro and One Click on the Lotus, Rant and Highnote.
Alltel offers ther 99 cent MMS Greeting Service.
RIM News
In RIM BlackBerry news - Sprint will offer the BlackBerry Curve 8350i, There is now Ticketmaster for BlackBerry, Free Slacker Radio on BlackBerry, Microsoft Live Search for the BlackBerry browser and maps, tere's going to be a new free BlackBerry MapQuest app, MySpace for BlackBerry will go live in October, TiVo has partnered with RIM and there's the new Flip BlackBerry Pearl.
Carrier News
AT&T certified the Qualcomm Gobi chip for mobile broadband and showed their social networing "My Communities."
Verizon launched the social networking SocialLife, V Cast Video mobile website, Ringback Buddies on Facebook, City ID from Cequint and that the New York Times is now available from their deck.
There have been lots of announcements on or before the first day of CTIA Wirelss IT and Entertainment 2008
- Verizon launched social networking SocialLife, V Cast Video mobile website, Ringback Buddies on Facebook, City ID from Cequint and that the New York Times is now available from their deck.
- In BlackBerry and RIM news - there's going to be a new free BlackBerry MapQuest app, MySpace for BlackBerry will go live in October, TiVo has partnered with RIM and there's the new Flip BlackBerry Pearl
- Sprint launched the Motorola i576, HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro and One Click on the Lotus, Rant and Highnote.
- New phones launched include the 3G Virgin Mobile Shuttle, Asus and 552w Smartphone with Glide UI,.
- AT&T certified the Qualcomm Gobi chip for mobile broadband and anounced "My Communities."
- Neilsen revealed their tween study that showed 46% of Tweens Use Cell Phones / 55% Text.
- RealNetworks will offer th eMllion Dollar Password mobile game in the fall and its Cuting Tunes into Ringtones & Ringback Tones, on home computer service for carriers and added new Video to Interactive Voice Reponse with IME.
- Yahoo added Java, WinMO and Symbian support for app building.
- Nokia now supports Microsoft Exchange.
- MTV has added ads to its Video on Demand mobile offerings.
The keynote stage will host a
variety of industry leaders and provide attendees with new perspectives
on the future of the wireless industry. On Wednesday, September 10,
carrier CEOs Lowell McAdam from Verizon Wireless, Robert Dotson from
T-Mobile USA and Dan Hesse from Sprint Nextel will participate in a
panel discussing their plans for opening up their networks. Additional
keynote speakers include Marco Boerries, executive vice president of
Connected Life at Yahoo! Inc.; Craig McCaw, chairman of Clearwire; John
Stanton, founder of Trilogy Partnership; Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of
Research in Motion; and Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe.
There will be a lot of announcements and we will be writing CTIA Wireless IT & Entertianment RoudUps as usual
The Active RFID, RTLS & Sensor Networks 2008 conference hosted by IDTechEx will be held on November 5-6, 2008 in Dallas TX.
This conference is in its fourth year and the only event in the world dedicated to the technologies of Active RFID, RTLS and Ubiquitous Sensor Networks. The latest technology developments, the applications of these technologies, and their respective and overriding markets will be explored in detail.
While the RFID business is quintupling in value in the next ten years, the Active RFID business is growing about ten times; the Active RFID, RTLS & Sensor Networks 2008 conference will look at the key applications in which this growth will incur including manufacturing, healthcare, the military and security, postal and courier and logistics.
CTIA WIRELESS 2008 played host to a global contingent of more than 40,000 attendees from 125 countries at the Las Vegas Convention Center April 1 - 3, says the CTIA Wireless Association.More than 1,200 exhibitors showcased the latest in handsets, accessories, applications, content and infrastructure technologies that are driving the worldwide evolution of mobile services. Established and emerging companies on hand at CTIA WIRELESS introduced new products:
- Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6.1 and IE Mobile 6
- Yahoo! Mobile launched oneSearch 2.0, with text and voice queries
- Handsets and Smartphones: Samsung Instinct; Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition; Kyocera E4600; Sony Ericsson Z750a and XPERIA 1X with Windows Mobile; HTC Touch Dual, Motorola, LG Vu, RIM Curve 8330 with GPS;
- Clearwire, Intel and Motorola demonstrated WiMAX
- Velocity Mobile debuted and announced its Velocity 103 handset
- Nokia introduced the N810 tablet, WiMAX version
The CTIA Wireless convention on Tuesday, April 1- showed the diversity and new directions of the business. They are moving forward and upward with new devices and services to bring the Internet to the masses at faster speeds with ease of use.
- Nokia went up and up and away in their beautiful boardroom 180 feet in the sky to demonstrate their Nokia N810 Internet Tablet with Wi-Fi and WiMAX.
- Sprint, trying harder with their number 3 position, touted their iPhonesque Instinct and partnerships for WiMAX.
- Windows Mobile has been upgraded to 6.1 bringing more Internet functionality.
- HTC announced that their Dual Touch handset is coming to the US.
- Motorola showed the Z9 and V950.
- Kyocera showed some nifty thrifty new handsets.
- T-Mobile brought the BlackBerry Pearl to their line up of smartphones.
- Samsung debuted not only the Instinct, but Soul, miCoach, Touch F480, Music F400 & Wi-Fi G810.
Driving into Vegas on the Way to CTIA Wireless, amongst the cranes constructing mega massive hotel casinos, hanging from one crane was a bunch of blue-suited early adopters strapped on a flying mobile office.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a balloon? Nope it's the Nokia upwardly mobile boardroom in the sky!
Nokia demonstrated their every where any time capabilities of their Internet tablet. They strapped participants into chairs on a giant platform and hoisted the ultra mobile board room 180 feet into the air with a crane. The product demonstrated was the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, which is now WiMAX (802.16e) enabled. The tablet will swtich between WiMAX and Wi-Fi. It will support the Sprint WiMAX network coming later this year.
Before we head across the desert to Las Vegas, we'd like to summarize the pre-almost-show buzz for CTIA Wireless 2008.
- Motorola Q9c from three new carriers.
- Verizon's release of the Moto Q9c, enV2, BlackBerry Curve 8330, Verizon XV6900, and Saumsung Alias.
- AT&T's release of the 3G HSPA, Sony Z750a in hot pink, purple and basic black.
Open source OS LiMo 1 is ready to go.
Kid's MVNO Kajeet now has GPS locator services.
Sony offers films/PIX via AT&T, 6 new mobile games, and play-during -show Jeopardy!
Cricket will offer unlimited mobile broadband in Oklahoma.
New phones that will be on view:
- The LG Vu -an iPhone-like touchscreen phone will be on view at the LG booth.
- The 3G Moto Z9 from AT&T will be revealed.
A YouTube Video has been
discovered that looks like a professional promotional video for Motorola. In the video is a shot of a Motorola phone with Kodak logo on it as a photo clicking sound is heard. It is suspected that the 5 megapixel Kodak CMOS camera chip announced in February, may show up soon on a Motorola phone. There have been several general stories on the mobile phone cameras recently stating:
- The number of cell phone cameras in the United States leaped from 48 million in November 2005 to 132 million in November 2007, according to the research firm M:Metrics.
- Meanwhile, the number of digital cameras in the country hit 106 million in 2007, according to the Photo Marketing Association.
Motorola has lost a lot of market share and adding a quality camera, may increase sales.
We've been getting a lot of phone calls, invitations to events and briefing requests for CTIA in Las Vegas. Although we can't release embargoed announcements, here are some pre-show announcements some of which we find a bit confusing and others just amusing:"---- feels Wireless and Mobile News is one of the most influential outlets serving the wireless industry, and our co-founder and chief technology officer or co-founder and vice president of business development would like to meet with you during the show to discuss market issues "
"Join us at 180 feet above Las Vegas for the first press conference in the sky"- we're trying to figure out if we will be in a plane, balloon or ?
"Land lines are over. Mobile phones are the new oxygen. Caller ID is the great equalizer. This is the wireline apocalypse."
"----will be unveiling its total communications strategy that will drive true convergence."
"This technology delivers the complete portable communication experience without the hassle and expense of upgrading existing technology."
"---- turns your mobile phone into a travel companion for outdoor activities, capable of tracking your movements and guiding you throughout your outdoor pursuits."
More than 55,000 visitors* attended the GSMA's Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, making this year's event the largest yet. The three-day conference, which featured more than 230 chief executives and other high-level speakers from across the world, attracted more than 8,000 delegates.
Arun Sarin, CEO of Vodafone, actor and filmmaker Robert Redford, Wang Jianzhou, CEO of China Mobile, John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia, Black-Eyed-Peas front man will.i.am and film actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini were among the diverse range of speakers at the Congress.
"The record attendance figures at this year's Congress reflect both the extraordinary and compelling conference programm, which covered a broad range of topics from Long-Term Evolution to made-for-mobile short films to the environment, and the high quality of the exhibition," said John Hoffman, CEO of the GSMA's conference division. "We are also delighted by the seniority of the people that have travelled from all over the world to Barcelona for the Congress - more than 43% of conference attendees hold C-level positions within their organisations."
- Observing, analyzing and reporting on the Congress were 2,700 international print, Web and broadcast media and the event made headlines across the globe.
- The Congress also hosted 1,300 exhibitors across 1,500 stands with approximately 29,000 square metres of exhibition space and 30,000 of square metres of hospitality space, reflecting the fact that people come to the show to network and do business.
- Mobile entertainment and content formed a major theme throughout the show with an entire hall (Hall 7) dedicated to multimedia content for mobile devices. In addition, the Mobile Backstage event at the National Palace explored the creation of compelling and high-quality content for mobile devices.
*This figure covers everyone who attended the event, including delegates, exhibitors, contractors and media
The
buzz after CES about mobile phones, proves, "What happens in Vegas
doesn't always stay in Vegas." The Consumer Electronics Show 2008
estimates that 130,000 attendees viewed the latest technology along
with over 4,000 journalists. Motorola, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony and
Neonode all showed their wares with Motorola getting a lot of attention
and LG features sneaking past most reviewers except Wireless and Mobile News.
The most lauded launch which won CNET's people choice award was the Motorola ROKR8 with a morphing touchscreen keyboard that changes for phone and music player use. The Z10,
however, had a lot more capabilities than most reports, a demonstrator
at the MOTO booth showed us how film clips could be edited and cross
faded all on the phone which was very impressive.
The most overlooked phone which was the most interesting and practical for a writer/editor to use was the LG Viewty.
When we asked at the LG booth what we should try we were directed towards
the phone. The camera with stabilization was lovely but the real hocus
pocus on this phone is the handwriting recognition. With the top of of
a pen cap the phone recognized letters quickly and effectively.
If traffic is any indication of a successful and exciting trade show, then the traffic on the freeway into Las Vegas this afternoon at 4:00 pm for CES proves something spetacular is going on. It was bumper to bumper starting at the airport. Unfortunately, I couldn't get near the Las Vegas Convention Center before it closed.
A friendly waitress at the Canada Party at Caesers Palace informed me to avoid parking at the convention center altogether. It was dejavu all over again because it was in that very room where I attended my first COMDEX and saw the amazing Ray Charles, the next year it I was thrilled by Tony Bennett. The waitress remembered those parties. A lot has changed since the early COMDEX years. Probably the most profund change is that even though I'm staying in a motel that is mere $39.99 a night, they have Wi-Fi.
The notebook computer I'm using is far better than the acient DOS computer running WordPerfect when members of our users group were seranaded by violinists and fed baby lamb chops with pants on them at the Ray Charles COMDEX. The big star this year is Mary J. Blige. It's probably too late to get invited to that party. I'm more interested in finding new products to write about.
I would like to thank Jim Loving who loaned me this great wireless notebook computer that is allowing me to work this evening and supply you with more stories tommorrow.
As far as news go, the presence of Microsoft at CTIA permeated the
coverage of CTIA. In their assessment of the show, writers
commented on the following:
- Sascha Segan at PC Magazine in his analysis of the show pointed out the prevalence of MIcrosoft and the overwhelming denial of the “i” word, liking it to the earlier PC battles between Apple and Microsoft. He called the Windows Mobile I-Mate handset one of the flashiest new phones at the show. He noticed the slew of social networking services and reported that Guitar Hero could be the superhero of the show.
- Eric Zeman in his CTIA wrap up for InformationWeek wrote “nothing set the show on fire. Hell, the parties were barely fun,” and thought that making the show in late October, too late for the holidays caused the announcements of handsets to be done way before the show.
- The hottest phones from Yahoo’s Gadget Hound were the BlackJack II, I-Mate Ultimate 9502, Sprint Touch, Samsung F700, and Samsung SCH-i760.
There were few mentions in analysis of CTIA about Xohm
Senior Vice President of Mobile Broadband Operations Atish Gude’s
Day 3 keynote, where he talked about Sprint’s commitment to their WiMax
strategy and the ecosystem of the wireless Web.
Comment from Mobile and Wireless News:
Most of the
coverage CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment lacks the
entertainment aspect. Perhaps, when the show is in San Francisco,
it tends to loose the entertainment flare like it had when
it was in Los Angeles, The Entertainment Capital of the World.
