Preparing for CTIA

Preparing for CTIA  

Like many of our readers, the Fierce team is gearing up for CTIA Wireless 2008 April 1-3 in Las Vegas. As the "official" online show daily for CTIA, Fierce reporters will be out in force at the show delivering all the latest news and insightful analysis to our readers. I'll be in Las Vegas along with my colleagues Lynnette Luna, Brian Dolan, Jason Ankeny, Mehan Jayasuriya and Mike Dolan. We will be meeting with companies, covering panels, attending keynote sessions, taking photos and checking out the show floor. You can see all our coverage at www.ctialive.com [1]. Be sure to check back frequently as we will be constantly updating the site.

It's early but I'm already picking up on a few trends that I expect to hear more about at the conference. Mobile entertainment remains in a slump so I'm not expecting big news in this area. I think the buzz of the show will surround WiMAX and LTE. I suspect Sprint will be out in force promoting its WiMAX network and we may finally see some WiMAX devices on the show floor.

Fierce will be covering all the angles on the 4G debate at our "Path to 4G" conference on April 2 at CTIA. We will have keynote addresses from Kris Rinne, senior vice president, architecture and planning at AT&T and Barry West, CTO and president of Xohm. Plus we have some great panels with speakers such as Atish Gude of Sprint, Fred Wright of Motorola, Chris Libertelli of Skype, Hakan Eriksson of Ericsson and industry icon Marty Cooper of Arraycomm. Be sure to check out our agenda here [2]. You can register for the event when you register for CTIA.

One of the best things about attending CTIA is it gives me the chance to reconnect with old friends, colleagues and sources. Please come to the Fierce networking party and say hello. It's from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. on April 1 at Rain at the Palms.  RSVP here [3]. -Sue

P.S. We will not be publishing tomorrow in honor of Good Friday. However, we will be back in action on Monday.