During the long flight from Los Angeles back to Denver, I realized that the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment show turned out completely different than I had expected.
When I first arrived in Los Angeles last Tuesday, I had fully expected a press release from Qualcomm touting the launch of its much-anticipated MediaFlo mobile TV network. I had expected Qualcomm to unveil a stellar lineup of TV and radio channels, and to boast incessantly about the technical superiority of its product.
In the same vein, I had expected Crown Castle International to announce its DVB-H progress–and perhaps a carrier customer as well. Crown Castle earlier this year unveiled its first DVB-H phone, a Modeo-branded smart phone, and I thought it stood to reason that the company would release further details about its plans at CTIA I.T.
I also expected the nation’s wireless carriers to make noise on the mobile TV front. Cingular Wireless is building out its HSDPA network, and I thought the carrier would wow CTIA I.T. attendees with its latest 3G video and audio services. I thought too that Sprint Nextel, always at the forefront of mobile TV, would announce yet another streaming video or audio service over its EV-DO network.
None of this happened.
Instead, I think the main thrust of the show came from a totally different avenue–advertising. Sprint Nextel kicked off the mobile marketing theme with news that it would begin selling ads on its wireless Web service. Amp’d announced a similar move, with Procter & Gamble as its first advertiser. Verizon Wireless too continues to test its own advertising scheme. And a number of smaller content players announced advertising-supported games, ringtones and other data offerings.
But selling cell-phone real estate to advertisers was only half the story; show attendees gave equal importance to self promotion. Sprint Nextel’s Paul Reddick put it as bluntly as possible: “Market your mobile entertainment. This stuff won’t market itself.” Vendors with off-deck offerings probably gave special attention to these words.
Several years ago, during the Internet boom, the theme of the CTIA I.T. show always seemed to center on the necessary partnership between wireless and the Internet industry. That partnership seems to have largely floundered because no major Internet players–from Google to Yahoo to Amazon.com–operated a booth at this year’s trade show.
Now it seems the advertising industry is wireless’ new dance partner.
As you could probably guess, I’m a big fan of advertising-supported content (like this magazine.) Let’s just hope that the wireless and advertising industries pay attention to their most important constituents: end users.
