Scattered thoughts on CTIA

Another CTIA done and over with. This one seemed a bit far-flung to me, like how ammo from a shotgun spreads far and wide, instead of a single shot like that from a bullet. The fact is as this industry matures, it encompasses more and more, spraying the audience instead of drilling in on one target. There is no single theme of wireless: It’s enterprise and consumer, business and home, content and network, P. Diddy and Sybase.

Much like those far-flung pellets, here are scattered thoughts on the show:

• It was big. CTIA claims the biggest wireless show in the world. I couldn’t tell if the 3GSM World Congress a mere month earlier in Cannes, France, was bigger or not. They’re close. The people I talked to (mostly from across the pond) who attended both said 3GSM generated more news buzz. Next year the shows are scheduled further apart, which should be good news for companies.
• I had mixed thoughts on the digital home. The dog wearing a wireless collar that signals its owner when the dog is where he isn’t supposed to be drew laughs and resigned acknowledgement from dog owners. The digital crib bugged me-perhaps because the woman next to me asked how much radiation was being given off from the screen inside the crib. But really I had a problem with a TV screen inside a baby’s crib for two reasons. First, pediatricians says children younger than 2 shouldn’t watch any TV. So even showing gramma’s face on the screen to help with face recognition isn’t so appealing. And maybe it’s just mother’s guilt, but if the baby is awake, maybe the baby shouldn’t be stuck alone in the crib, left to be staring at the crib. Maybe she should be picked up. Either way, the marketing campaign on this app could be interesting to watch.
• It was nice to see toned down, elegant booths. Even the Samsung monstrosity was pretty with its wall of water, which alternately drew handsets, spelled out Samsung, and mixed it up with some freeform art.
• Some free advice for Motorola: Have you ever noticed when Motorola uses names for its handsets, they take off?: DataTac, StarTac, RAZR? The handset maker has named its latest and greatest devices the PEBL, RCKR and SLVR. So why are the lower-end phones called the ABCDEF 1234?
• The personal show highlight for me was seeing Craig McCaw talking on his handset near our booth. He reminds me of a lot of folks in wireless who just can’t seem to stay away-it’s too much fun.