Cool New Phones Call Crowds to CTIA Wireless

ATLANTA—Tens of thousands of people descended on the Georgia World Congress Center late last month to celebrate an industry that appears to be on the upswing.

At CTIA Wireless 2004, held March 22-24, registration lines were long, the showfloor busy and the buzz palpable. Space was sold out, with 900 exhibitors spanning more than 400,000 square feet. An extra hall was added at the last minute, and available meeting space was so scarce at the conference-rich tradeshow that dozens of portable rooms were set up for company meetings in one of the convention center's unused exhibit halls.

After two difficult years, during which many wireless companies went bust, the return of optimism was welcome news. "I can feel a buzz again," said William Casey, a senior director of corporate marketing for Flarion Technologies, an exhibitor for four years. "I can feel a sense of purpose. We've been swamped."

The buzz's return was evidenced by crowds filling booths to look over the latest phones from the likes of Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. Wireless network equipment mainstays Ericsson, Lucent and Nortel were back in flashy two-story booths instead of the scaled-back versions used during the period when the companies were laying off tens of thousands of workers.

The show's organizer, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn., did not release specific attendance numbers. But Rob Mesirow, CTIA's vice president of conventions for the past six years, said attendance was up by 21 percent compared with last year.

Mesirow attributed the success of the show – a 2003 Fastest 50 winner and a Tradeshow Week 200 event that drew 27,000 attendees in 2002 – to constant refinement. "We never do the same show twice. That's one of the reasons this show has remained pretty consistent throughout the whole downturn," he said.

This year's event featured the debut of the Mobile Entertainment eXpo, which included a daylong summit, a music awards program, a wireless gaming awards program, a fashion show and "the world's smallest film festival." As part of the expo, 20,000 square feet of exhibit space was dedicated to pavilions for entertainment, music, accessories and hardware.

Like consumer electronics show Intl. CES, the year's largest wireless gathering has proven a magnet for partner conferences. This year featured 14, including iHollywood's Mobile Entertainment Summit, an IEEE networking conference, a wireless data forum, an investment conference and sessions for using wireless to help the disabled. Admission to all the conferences was free to registered attendees.

Mesirow said it hasn't been easy keeping the show dynamic in recent years. According to Tradeshow Week figures, the show grew from 337,000 net sq. ft. in 2000 to 405,000 net sq. ft. in 2002. Established in 1985, it usually rotates among Atlanta, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando.

Like many show producers, CTIA was hurt by the business-travel slowdown after the Sept. 11 attacks. CTIA Wireless IT, the association's fall event, was underway when the attacks occurred. Although former CTIA CEO Tom Wheeler decided to go on with the show, PCIA, the organizer of a competing show, opted to cancel. PCIA eventually stopped holding events aimed at the entire wireless industry, a move that solidified CTIA's position as the dominant industry organization.

Ideally, Mesirow said he'd like to see an exhibitor retention rate of at least 85 percent. But during the difficult years, that rate dropped to 50 percent, forcing him to search for additional companies to fill the space. Luckily, he said, the industry tends to generate a lot of new players.

For years, the wireless industry has talked about "convergence," referring to the idea that the wired and wireless worlds will someday become indistinguishable. But this year's show underscored the fact that the consumer electronics and entertainment industries are swiftly blending in with wireless.

No longer are wireless phones just used for talking. As a result of wireless carriers rolling out next-generation networks, the type of handsets introduced at CTIA Wireless are capable of taking pictures, streaming video, playing games, downloading music and sending text messages.

With 160 million subscribers in the United States alone, wireless occupies "the third screen in people's lives," Steve Largent, CTIA's new president and CEO, told a standing-room only crowd during his keynote presentation. For example, he said, with 75 million units sold, the camera phone recently eclipsed the DVD player as the fastest-growing consumer product. Downloading ring tones, he added, accounts for 10 percent of all recording industry revenue.

Largent, a former Seattle Seahawks receiver and Oklahoma congressman, proved a draw in his own right. The show served as a debut party for Largent, named the association's new leader last November. CTIA billed it as "the beginning of a new era," unveiling a new logo and a new mission statement, "Expanding the Wireless Frontier."