Well, it’s actually eight-ish as I grab breakfast before heading to the airport but I was up at three am as a crackling thunderstorm rolled through town, leaving atmospheric and mental fog in its wake. Not a bad metaphor for what’s happening here with CTIA — a huge event with brilliant flashes and tons of energy that leaves the observer feeling foggy.
Some scenes from the show while I think through my take on what I’m hearing about the content side of mobile:
— the folks from EMI camped out in the bar of the Holiday Inn Select across from the convention center, intent on continuing their push to deliver music in every possible way.
— a black Samsung banner flowing from a plane hovering over the Mississippi until rainy weather won the battle. Inside, Samsung continued its PR onslaught by sponsoring pedometors (I logged more than 30,000 steps) and constructing a huge. colorful display that hovered over the floor.
— the after-hours crowd of suits at the Ericcson booth picking up tickets for Los Lonely Boys at the House of Blues.
— the various exhibitors who think showing a reporter the amount of press they’ve received will impress them. It’s all about the wares, not the words of other media; let the work shine through instead of the PR.
— the frustrations of exhibitors trying to do just that only to be stymied by the cell-phone congestion that kept services from working. When you’re standing a few hundred yards from a 10,000-connection Cingular GPRS set-up and you still can’t get a message to push back, it’s maddening. Now imagine that your success relies on showing that your service works efficiently and well …
Don’t forget to check out CTIA snapshots — and post your own using the CTIA tag.
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