Well, I’m back from CTIA for another year, and I have a number of interviews which I’ll write up over the next few days.
Here are some things I learned from this CTIA:
— The mobile content industry loves the carriers. Really it does…oh, it says a few nasty things every now and then, but it’s only in the form of tough love…really, we love you guys. The industry loves the carriers for doing the hard work of acquiring customers, it just wishes that the carriers would share them a little. It loves the fact that the carriers have an efficient billing mechanism in place, it just wishes the carriers wouldn’t charge quite so much for the privilege, and that the carriers would give the industry some sort of metrics about what was being sold, when and to who. The industry loves the fact that the carriers have an environment where piracy is not a huge issue…it just wishes that the carriers would find a way to offer more of the industry’s actual content.
— You don’t need to be a new entrant into the market, you can hire experience. A lot of companies, such as Viva Vision and Vivendi Games, have gone on poaching sprees to boost their management team.
— Arranging to meet people at a large event and then trying to find them on the basis of their name tags won’t work.
— A lack of standards is holding back the mobile content industry, but that’s not going to change so get used to it.
— Downtown LA shuts down when the sun sets.
— LA drivers are very polite…or possibly scared. Either way, the driving experience was a lot more pleasant than I expected.
— People who go to an Apple announcement in the hopes of seeing an “iPhone” are bound to be disappointed.
— MVNO is a four-letter word, so don’t say it.
— If you use the bottled water analogy for overcharging for mobile music often enough it will become perceived wisdom. Or not.
— “This is one of two elevators used in filming “TRUE LIES” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, September 1993″
Our CTIA coverage is sponsored by Bango, WapOneline and Xiam.
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