Wireless tech firms upbeat at trade show
By Brian Bergstein
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — Maybe it's because wireless technologies seem magical, filling the air with unseen vibrations that mean something.
What else can explain the optimism pervading one of the industry's most important gatherings as war looms and many companies still struggle to make money from wireless wonders?
Companies from Accenture to Ztango have wireless breakthroughs to show off this week at the 18th annual CTIA Wireless 2003 in New Orleans, a trade show suffused with the notion that the Next Big Thing will be anything that lets people better use technology while they're mobile.
The biggest buzz surrounds the wireless networking technology known as WiFi (short for Wireless Fidelity) and myriad methods of making mobile devices more appealing to "road warrior" business users.
Other hot topics include ways to let people roam between WiFi and cell-phone networks as they surf the Web and check e-mail on the fly; expansion of "push-to-talk" walkie-talkie services that Nextel pioneered and rivals are copying; new uses of short text messages over phones; and more options for stuffing cell phones with games, pictures and songs.
The show, which runs through tomorrow, includes keynote speeches from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell and cable mogul Ted Turner. Nearly 800 exhibitors are expected, though some international companies have pulled out in fear that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would disrupt travel.
In what must rank as a nerd's wildest fantasy, several fashion shows are scheduled in which models will strut down a catwalk on the floor of the New Orleans Convention Center wearing futuristic wireless accouterments. What could be hotter than running shoes that use an embedded computer to adjust foot cushioning as needed, or a clip-on device for eyeglasses that beams a virtual computer monitor into the user's field of vision?
"Without a doubt the telecom sector in the U.S. has taken some hits the last two years or so, but wireless has been a bright spot by comparison," said Travis Larson, spokesman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, the trade group sponsoring the show.
"We've got to stay grounded in understanding the current business climate, but we can't ignore where the industry is going. This trade show is not just about what's available today but the aspirations of the industry for tomorrow."
Such gaiety has been rare in the computing and telecommunications industries, which are still struggling to recover from the 1990s Internet binge. Even though wireless phone sales rose a healthy 6 percent in 2002, according to Gartner Dataquest, intense competition, heavy debts and slow adoption of data services such as picture messaging has made life tough for most carriers.
