This week's CTIA show lost its headline act when Samsung and Google cancelled their big announcement, but other companies such as AT&T and T-Mobile stepped in to fill the void.
Roger Cheng
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
Another season, another CTIA. The CTIA Enterprise & Applications show has always been smaller than the larger, more high-profile CTIA Wireless show in the spring. This week's San Diego show lost its headline act when Samsung Electronics and Google cancelled their big announcement, but other companies such as AT&T and T-Mobile stepped in to fill the void.
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CTIA calls for more spectrum, again
CTIA Chief Executive Steve Largent kicked off the show with yet another call for more spectrum, a theme that was hammered home on multiple occasions and by multiple telecom executives this week.
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Lounging with Sprint
Sprint wisely set up a lounge with food, music, and, most importantly, outlets. Bloggers, analysts, and reporters used the room as a second home during the show.
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Sprint pushes green
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse set green as an initiative for the CTIA trade group, and his company has tried to live up to those goals with, for example, packaging and phones using recycled material.
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Taking the pledge
Sprint's other initiative: the prevention of distracted driving. Circulating around the show were Livestrong band-like pledge rings given out by Sprint, as well as a little message seeking a pledge to drive safely. It was one of the more random things to come out of the show.
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Keeping pace
One of the few amusing booths at the show was Valencell's exhibit, which featured a woman walking and running on the treadmill for the entire day. The runner was promoting a fitness sensor integrated into a mobile earbud, providing body metrics to the smartphone.
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Samsung and AA take Android to the skies
Coming soon to a plane near you: airline seats with an integrated Android tablet. Samsung Electronics had such a set-up on display in its booth.
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15 minutes to fame
Developers were given 15 minutes to pitch their apps to Motorola Mobility.
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A smaller show
The show was much smaller than in past years, although it managed to attract high-profile industry leaders including the CEOs of Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, and Sprint Nextel.
