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CTIA Wireless 2006: The Industry, Analyzed

IPCC-International Packet Communications Consortium

IPCC Feature Article

April 06, 2006

CTIA Wireless 2006: The Industry, Analyzed

Mae Kowalke, TMCnet Associate Editor


Lots of attention is being focused this week on Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association’s (CTIA) Wireless 2006, which according to the show’s website is attracting almost a thousand members of the press, more than 35,000 attendees, and nearly a thousand exhibitors.
 
Not just in numbers is the event significant. It’s also important because of who is attending. Keynoters include executives from Time Warner Cable, Sprint Nextel, NTT DoCoMo, Nokia, PayPal, Black Entertainment Television, MTV, Orange Groupand Cingular, plus FCC (News - Alert) Chairman Kevin Martin.
 
A quick glance over the show’s schedule reveals that a hot topic this year is new wireless applications and technologies (e.g. VoIP, smart phones, IMS) and how they are affecting marketing, business models, and profits.
 
CTIA Wireless (News - Alert) 2006 is not just a meeting of the minds, of course, but also a forum for discussion of industry trends and predictions. Analyst organization Deloitte helped kick off this aspect of the event with its April 4 evening session, “2010 Crystal Ball Predictions.”
 
Panelists at the session discussed the current state of the wireless industry and made predictions about its performance during the next several years.
 
Their consensus?
 
“Over the next several years, wireless will become massive in its pervasiveness,” said Phil Asmundson, national managing partner for Deloitte’s TMT practice, in a statement to the press. “[W]ireless will clearly change how we work, how we play, how we interact, how we maintain our health, how we learn and, ultimately, how we live.”
 
Predicting exactly what form those changes will take is an imperfect science, but the panelists took a stab at that as well. Deloitte reports that the focus at the session was on the significance of convergence as a driver for industry growth.
 
“Convergence erases barriers between wireline and wireless services, and enables digital content to go everywhere,” Deloitte quoted panelist Nigel Rundstrom of Nokia (News - Alert) as explaining. “A lifestyle based on increased mobility will change how people consume content as well as the delivery methods and the content itself.”
 
Rundstrom added, “It is difficult to accurately forecast four years into the future, but if we simply look back four years, we will see that wireless technologies have enabled huge numbers of people to remain better connected, to become more productive and to enjoy new experiences.”
 
If nothing else, the future growth of an industry—such as wireless—often can be predicted fairly accurately by looking to the past.
 
And by this measure, the American wireless industry looks to have a bright future.
 
CTIA announced today the results of its Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey, which indicates that 25.7 million new wireless subscribers signed up for mobile services in 2005, breaking a previous 12-month growth record.
 
The survey also said that the American wireless industry was 207.9 million subscribers strong at the end of 2005, an increase of 14.17 percent over 2004.

“The mobile communications revolution is in full swing, and now nearly 70 percent of America is taking part in it,” CTIA president and CEO Steve Largent said in a press release. “Only wireless allows consumers to communicate and connect while on the move, and it is that ability to conduct your work and play from wherever you are that is so appealing to Americans of all walks of life.”
 
Awards presented at the show are one indicator of the types of applications wireless manufacturers and service providers think will help continue making mobile communications so appealing.
 
Winners of the Wireless Innovation Contest 2006, run by the Wireless Innovation Network of British Columbia (WINBC), were announced yesterday at the CTIA show.
 
WINBC said in a press release that winners “demonstrated innovative solutions that made customers significant returns on their investment and advanced technology processes.”
 
Prizes were awarded in six categories. The winners are listed below. 
  • Taking Care of Business – Private Sector: Gearworks’ mobile workforce management software, etrace. (Related story.)

  • Taking Care of Business – Public Sector: Elster Electricity, LLC’s EnergyAxis System of smart meters with embedded mesh radio that create robust two-way communication networks. 

  • In the Taking Care of Yourself – Home and Entertainment: Digital Chocolate’s MLSN Sports Picks, a “socially connected” mobile club.

  • Taking Care of Yourself – Sports and Recreation: MedicTouch’s Wireless Pulse Meter Pro, which allows users to monitor their physiological parameters from a mobile phone.

  • Taking Care of the Community: Mobile Voter, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that uses text messaging solutions to engage youth in civic life. 

  • Student: mobSKY’s Mobile Greeting Cards made available through a Web-based interface.
 “The award winners are testament to how wireless occupies all walks of life,” said WINBC president Sang Mah, in a press release. “We’re very pleased to see how wireless is truly driving change in many sectors.”
 
Editor’s note: For more wireless news and analysis, visit TMCnet’s CTIA Snapshot page, and keep an eye on Rich Tehrani’s Blog.
 
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Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page.
 

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