Subject: [NEXTEL-1] CTIA conference overshadowed by war clouds

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 14:12:45 -0500

CTIA conference overshadowed by war clouds

By Bob Brewin and Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
MARCH 17, 2003

NEW ORLEANS -- This week's Cellular
Telecommunications and Internet
Association (CTIA) conference, the
largest event in the U.S. wireless
industry, is expected to draw
35,000-plus attendees over the next
three days to check out the latest
advances in mobile wireless technology.
But with the prospect of a U.S.
confrontation with Iraq growing almost
by the hour, convention-goers said the
CTIA show will have a hard time
competing against world events for their
attention.

This conference could become "more
about CNN than CDMA [Code Division
Multiple Access]," said Randy
Huntress, a product manager for
handset manufacturer Nokia Inc. in
Espoo, Finland. CDMA is a cellular standard.

Peter Skillman, director of product design and engineering at Handspring Inc. in Mountain
View, Calif ,
which makes Palm OS-based handheld computers, said the prospect of war has already
overshadowed the conference for him. He said the war talk got his attention when he was en
route to
the show and watched President Bush live from the Azores on satellite TV during his
flight. It was "a
truly surreal experience," he said.

"No matter what side of the issue you are on, there has to be something wrong with you if
you don't
think about the war," Skillman said. "There are other issues in life than work." Even so,
he said, the
possibility of hostilities will "not keep me from walking around the show and learning."

Jason Guesman, director of business marketing for Sprint PCS Group in Overland Park, Kan.,
said the
beginning of military action would almost certainly have an immediate impact on the
nation's cellular
carriers. "It will light up the networks" as people "reach out to talk," Guesman said.
"When you're
insecure, you use your cell phone" to call friends and family, he added.

Nicky Csellak-Claeys, marketing manager for North America for Sony Ericsson Mobile
Communications (USA) Inc., which is in Research Triangle Park, N.C., said that a war might
increase
demand for mobile devices because people may worry about family members and feel a greater
need
to stay in touch with them. She said that while Sony Ericsson is a global company, any
expected
disruptions to travel caused by the war would be limited because the company holds most of
its
meetings by videoconference. As for the impact of world events on the CTIA conference, she
said it
will be limited because the "first day is the most important" day of any conference, and
the first day of
the CTIA show is already under way.

Jim Christensen, director of public relations at Palm Inc. in Milpitas, Calif., said a war
could
temporarily "slow us down" and could have some impact on the show. But, he added, "9/11
did not
stop us, and [a war with Iraq] will not slow down development of technology."

http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,79429,00.html

--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Your own Online Store Selling our Overstock.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/rZll0B/4ftFAA/46VHAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/