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At CTIA, No News Is Big News

What a downer. I just opened the CTIA "Show Daily," from the very creditable news outlet RCR Wireless News, to find that ... Nothing Happened at the big CTIA Wireless show in Vegas.

"It seems this year's event has not been quite the blockbuster event I had previously preached," wrote managing editor Dan Meyer. "For the life of me, I can't remember any defining moment from this year's event."

Online editor Mike Dane agreed, noting that Apple -- which released the industry-changing iPhone a scant nine months ago, though it seems like nine years -- "is nowhere to be seen on the CTIA show floor, and CEO Steve Jobs is not among the event's presenters."

Now, my former colleague Scott Raynovich, editorial chief of Light Reading, is fond of reminding his reporters that "There's always news!" -- even when it seems there's a lack of "defining moments" at a show like this.

This year's CTIA Wireless is no different: there's the advent of the mobile Web, new enhancements to Windows Mobile, Motorola's ongoing transformation, Sprint's attempt to rebound with its Xohm WiMax build-out, Nokia's release of its first WiMax-equipped device, an onslaught of mobile TV ventures, and, as an overarching theme, what some are starting to call "the post-cell-phone world." There's also a lot of off-the-record talks going on that I can't write about at this moment.

That being said, I would agree that, overall, many attendees feel there's a dearth of what Meyer called "industry-changing insights" at this show. For an industry that's in a period of great upheaval, that's paradoxical. But it's not really surprising.

First of all, CTIA is too close in time to Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM) in Barcelona in February. Particularly for the device makers, MWC has become the place to introduce hot new phones -- which means most of the devices shown off here in Vegas had their debut more than a month ago. The gravitational shift toward Barcelona spotlights the fact that much of the growth and innovation in the mobile and wireless industry isn't coming from the United States -- which is something the CEOs at this show should be paying attention to.

Secondly, another shift is taking place away from the big carriers. It was ironic to see the ever-mechanical Steve Largent (a great wide receiver but a lousy onstage MC) talk about the Great Opening of the U.S. wireless industry now taking place, as if the assembled carriers hadn't fought against just that development for most of the last 10 years. The carriers have resisted the user-centric open-network trends that are now transforming their industry under their feet. Now they're scrambling to catch up, as new and more nimble entrants like Apple and Google capture headlines and customers' imaginations. CTIA is still a carrier show -- and the carriers, if not dinosaurs, are evolutionarily challenged.

So, there's still plenty of big news in the mobile and wireless industry. It's just not necessarily to be found at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

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