CTIA 2009 trade show in Las Vegas

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.

New US mobile phone launches in 2009

So as we all have read and talked about with our friends and family, 2009 is the year for big economic changes....albeit negative in nature.  Some will call it a correction, a recession, a severe recession, or even a depression.  I find it tough on many levels - from cutting back spending to just doing less.  I want to focus on how the mobile phone industry is impacted and how it will change concerning mobile phone launches in the US.

You may or may not have noticed, however, the reality is manufacturers have cut back or delayed their number of new mobile phone launches in 2009.  Even Nokia, the global mobile phone giant, is feeling the economic downturn from consumers around the world. We all are buying less or more frugally.  At the same time, the mobile phone manufacturers are really not 'wowing' us with anything new and exciting as in years past.  The US carriers are churning out, at a slower rate, some new mobile phones, but nothing iconic noted yet.

I will admit, as far as the unlocked business goes, that Nokia does have a pretty impressive device launching mid year called the N97 which is their next generation Nseries smartphone with a new and improved S60 OS (actually my blog site uses a picture of the N97 on the top).Check into its details on the web as it is much anticipated by tech leaders around the world.   HTC is probably second is pushing sales of unlocked mobile phones in the US, but 2009 looks like 2nd generations for HTC Touch Diamond and HTC Touch PRO.  Not that these are not great smartphones....just not that much different.  The HTC Touch HD 2009 does have some nice feature upgrades and slickness so be sure to check that device out - it is available unlocked today - one site I know it is available at is www.mobilecityonline.com.  SonyEricsson is in a lull and now there are reports that Ericsson wants out of the SonyEricsson joint venture and Sony is willing to buy the share from Ericsson, but Sony is a bit cash strapped now so they are looking at other options.  Regardless, Sony Ericsson mobile is riding their Experia X1 which is not doing so well in the US.  I can tell you that their sales distribution model and strategy for unlocked is not optimized and that is mostly the reason behind the sales lag.  The X1 is a nice product. Anyway, SonyEricsson's new so called strategy for the US involves a focus on theiradvanced camera functionality built into their new mobile phone lines like the C905.  They still aspire to get in with a US carrier in the high end smart phone category.  I wish them luck. Samsung is gobbling up US carrier market share like it is going out of style.  My thoughts are - kudos to Samsung and their US team.  They are designing some great products to meet the carrier specs and they hired most of the older Nokia US employees with years of experience and relationships to make the business happen.  LG is almost holding their own with ATT and Verizon as their anchors in the US market, but minimal business in the unlocked space.  Blackberry is trucking along driving the bulk of smartphone sales in the US and with a great product line from Bold to Storm to 8900 Curve, to Pearl.  They are really dominating the smarthphone space in the US with good reason since their email solution and ease of use is driving consumer demand. Motorola is really struggling and lost most of their share globally and now their US mobile phone business is in jeopardy.  They just are launching the EM330, an entry level clamshell, at ATT to help gain some marketshare, but it will by no means save them. Apple is cruising along selling the iPhone 3G at ATT retail and recently announced they will launching OS 3.0 in the summer as an upgrade...iPhone to Get MMS, Cut & Paste, Stereo Bluetooth and More...I also learned today that ATT is now selling brand new Apple iPhone 3G 8Gb and 16gb to existing ATT customers with NO contract.  This added about $400 to the cost, but at least it is an option at $599 and $699 respectively.  Now if they would just offer it unlocked then that would be true progress!  

To sum it up, we are just about a quarter into 2009 and no announcements nor leaked information on anything new and exciting in the mobile phone and smartphone space besides maybe the Nokia N97. Of course there are Apple rumors on the "Nano" phone, but that has been rumored for a while now. We will see as CTIA approaches and happens April 1-3, 2009 if there are any mobile phones in 2009 to 'Holla' about.  

Welcome! Unlocking the US carrier...

I contemplated this blog for almost 3 years....so without further ado here we go.  

I have worked in the wireless telecom industry over 15 years and still going strong despite all the ups and downs of the sector.  So over time I want to share what I feel I have a learned on many particular issues and problems in the industry surrounding the evolving locked vs unlocked mobile phones available to US consumers.  I do intend to share the good and bad as I see it and welcome your thoughts and feedback for the better of the people in the US.  This is my first baby step into the unlocked wireless future.

We are contantly learning and changing as humans, but for some reason companies and industries are slow moving giants to change.  Let me elaborate some more and provide some latitude on this topic. We are humans, people, working for these companies.  Yet, we all find it difficult to get policies, programs, and other corportate mumbo jumbo changed for the better. I tend to believe it is corporate politics and/or deep financial pockets that force 'their way' to slow down or prevent an open playing field. This is where we are in the wireless industry in regards to unlocked mobile phones and open access wireless networks .  This is such a big issue that even the US government got involved.  The good old FCC established a ruling for and against Google when they wanted to launch a fully open and unlocked wireless broadband network for unlocked wireless products.  This affects wireless telecom carriers today and their dominant stronghold on their walled garden approach to trying to 'own the consumer'.  I dont know about you, but controlling the consumer sounds communist and un-American.  Yeah, spectrum licenses were involved, relationships and a ton of cash on the line as usual so what can you expect but problems, right? .  You can check out this link to learn more....http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/technology/01spectrum.html.  

Anyway, I digressed a bit from unlocked phones and the issue with why US carriers are so against this notion. So consider this, from its genesis the wireless business charged customers a monthly fee with a minimum contract and provided a discount for the equipment aka mobile phone or to some old schoolers in the US - the cell phone. That was the age old business model for a US wireless phone. It sold great, it still sells well, but the world has changed over the last 15 years quite considerably in the mobile telecom space.  The market is saturated for one. Plus more importantly, previously people bought mobile phones to just talk, then it evolved to talk and text.  Fast forward 15 years, and now consumers are talking, texting, chatting, browsing, emailing, snapping pictures and video, finding their way using GPS, watching TV, listening to music and much more on their mobile phones.  I equate it to using your mobile phone as a computer albeit a tiny one.  One Nokia executive coined the term 'multimedia computers'.  Most US people and the industry tend to call them smartphones.  So think of it this way, what if you had your laptop or desktop PC locked to only view google sites or whatever yahoo wanted you to see??  What if you could only buy software and use software from the store you bought it from??  Do you understand the relevancy and madness?  The US mobile phone carriers do this to US consumers today and most of us accept it. We have to use the mobile phones that they offer and approve.  Otherwise, there are heftier prices to pay to access their wireless network using an unapproved mobile phone and in some cases they may not even allow them on the network.  Moreover, the approved mobile phones are loaded with the carrier's custom software, bookmarks, custom website portal, and on and on.  Some features of the mobile phone are even 'hidden' or deleted altogether.  I remember a rumor a while back that Verizon wireless did not allow their approved mobile phones to have bluetooth since they took away from revenues generated from using their network to send info rather than let consumer bluetooth info for free. Many consumers have fought hard to win their wireless freedom - think back to when number portability was not possible which in turn prevented many people from switching carriers.  So wrong.  Learn some more about the background and more specifics on this at http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2004dltr0006.html.

I say let the consumer choose their network, their phone number, and now which mobile phone they want to use.  In comes the unlocked phone frenzy by the US savvy, tech leader demand that has been buildingover the past couple years.  Nokia responded in the US a few years back by legitimizing and optimizing their unlocked phones for general use on the US carrier networks based on the GSM standard.  Nokia has benefitted from this unlocked model globally and marginally in the US where the business model is being shunned by the US carriers.  There are ways around it today though.  You can buy any unlocked mobile phone that is based on the GSM standard that is compatible to the US wireless carrier network of your choice and just install your carrier's SIM card.  You will be activated immediately without having to do anything else. It is just that simple. More manufacturers are adopting this business model as well. SonyEricsson and HTC are now offering US unlocked mobile phones in alternate sales channels with online being the easiest and most fruitful channel to date. Let me futher explain briefly why.  This unlocked mobile phone choice allows for consumers to control the manufacturers business versus the 'over-bearing' US carrier requirements that leverage this power over manufacturers to do as they please to boost profits.  Consumers benefit most from the unlocked mobile phone model since the consumer can get the best of both worlds by buying the hardware they want and the network they want it to work on without the carrier's customization bogging it down. This is logical and similar to how consumers purchase their TV's and cable networks, their landline phones and its landline telephone services, your computer and the broadband or dial up or wireless broadband network.....need I go further?!  

So I say UNLOCK ME and let me be free to choose!  This is America the land of the free.

Much more in the future....