Mobile content will still play a large role at CTIA. Billboard’s renamed event, Mobile Entertainment Live!, will kick off the conference and as always, Billboard delivers with at least one entertainment icon-- Kevin Lyman, Founder, Warped Tour/Taste of Chaos Mobile.
As in year’s past (remember P. Diddy at CTIA 2005 and rappers LL Cool J and D4L at CTIA 2006?), you may spot a celebrity or two at CTIA. We have heard that a few “special” guests may be sighted.
The reality behind the glitz, however is that next week you’ll be hearing a lot about content discovery and ways to make mobile entertainment easier to navigate and access.
“The time for technical experimentation is over--we need to focus on things the average, mass-market consumer is going to try and make that experience easy for them to access,” said Mike Wehrs, vice president of product management and evangelism for embedded software solutions provider Tegic Communications.
Mobile marketing and advertising will likely ride the wave of newfound momentum in Orlando. “There is a continual escalation of interest in mobile marketing--we’re seeing a lot of large consumer brands putting real dollars into their mobile efforts,” said Laura Marriott, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association. “We’re obviously going to see an intense focus on mobile advertising at CTIA--I expect a lot of vendors and media players will be making announcements.”
It’s virtually impossible to discuss mobile advertising without factoring mobile search into the conversation. In recent months most of the debate on mobile search pitted white-label solutions such as Medio Systems and JumpTap against branded services from Google, Yahoo! and other online search giants, but Microsoft’s recent acquisition of voice-recognition technology firm Tellme Networks--a deal rumored in the neighborhood of at least $800 million--promises to be the talk of CTIA. -Jason [1]
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[1] mailto:jankeny@fiercemarkets.com