It is amazing how fast a year goes by....and how much things can change. I have been attending CES and CTIA for the last 8 years and what I see as consistent is the inconsistency of the product 'wows' every year. I have seen many ups and downs in the wireless device and consumer electronics device space. Some years CTIA is crazy crowded and busy with many new product and service launches and others are like this year. This year CTIA was a down period. What I saw was a decreased amount of vendor booths, a decreased amount of attendees and a decreased amount of hype and product launches. The big named handset manufacturers with their mammoth booths were all in attendance from RIM, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, HTC, Samsung, and LG. However, their new products were not 'wow' devices as in the past. The ones I think that have some high end promise is the HTC Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 as well as the Nokia N97. Most of the manufacturers were touting that they would soon have Android OS based devices, but showed nothing. One glimmer of change I saw was the Garmin-Asus joint venture with a mobile GPS device and smartphone in one. I applause Asus for taking a big risk and entering the mobile phone space as they have done incredibly well with their new netbooks. I see their success in netbooks as a logical extension into growing their success in smartphones. Acer...hint, hint....but I bet Acer is already in stealth mode strategy finalizing their launch plans. I actually heard rumors that Acer may be launching an Android phone later in 2009. And just this week there has also been strong rumors of Nokia entering the netbook space. I laugh at the irony in how companies want to be something other than what they are best known for. Remember NGage, Nokia?!?! Perhaps they see the grass greener on the other side? Yet, without the risk and change I assume we would all have standard black, rectangular mobile phones with a paltry feature list like 'send' and 'end'.
Amid the economic gloom, and relatively speaking, the wireless telecom industry is doing fairly well. US carriers revenues and earnings are up and it is probably safe to say people will not give up their cell/mobile phones. They may switch to lower priced plans or prepaid plans, but the demand and need for wireless communication is here to stay. Especially since there is an estimated 15% of Americans without landline phone service and usage of wireless phones are their preferred voice communication. Consumers are hooked on Blackberries and iPhones and other smartphone devices more than ever. The wireless industry is transforming the way people live, work, play and communicate. Think about your mobile life - from email to twitter to google to basic browsing to texting to just plain talking with people. You cannot live without your mobile phone/device or you would be shut off from friends, family and business for a big portion of your day. Plus new mobile applications and services are being created and offered every day which is driving new business and industries to be formed - think Apple iTunes and the trend for app stores on the web. Even traditional advertising is transforming into digital and mobile in a big way. I see mobile banking on the horizon as the next big application that consumers will adopt as second nature. Once the mobile banking system is optimized, secure and simple there will be little stopping mobile hungry consumers from leaving their wallet and cash at home and using their mobile phone/device for their purchases.
So I say it was more of a bust for CTIA 2009, but long live the wireless telecom industry to transform and enrich our lives by keeping us connected wirelessly no matter where we.
