Day one at CTIA featured the usual handset and carrier announcements, but also kicked things off with a plethora of new application announcements. The tone has been set that mobile applications will remain in the spotlight this year, along with the devices and the mobile broadband networks they run on.
Microsoft spilled more details about its upcoming “Windows Marketplace for Mobile,” which they say already has plans to introduce applications from the likes of AccuWeather, The Associated Press, CNBC and a slew of other well-known names. Blackberry, on the other hand, finally took the wraps off its own mobile App store today with the announcement that “Blackberry App World” is now live and available to download.
Not to be outdone, Palm gave a sneak peak of its own App store running on its highly anticipated Palm Pre device. The biggest surprise was the fact that Palm seems to have included an emulation application that will allow users to run the thousands of PalmOS apps that have been around forever. Provided by Motion Apps, the emulator will display the familiar PalmOS desktop and its applications directly on the Pre’s homescreen.
As evident by the many QWERTY-based device announcements, the theme seems to be centered around smartphones capable of quick messaging and email. Along with the Nokia E71x, the LG Neon and the Samsung Magnet, the HTC “Snap” was introduced this morning that’s so email-centric that it includes a new application that will actually prioritize your e-mails based on certain preferences. Dubbed “Inner Circle,” the app brings e-mails from a preselected group of people to the top of your in-box so you can read and reply to them immediately.
The “Mobile Lifestyle” is said to be the overall theme of this year’s CTIA, and day one proved that theme with the many mobile application announcements that bring even more functionality to the mobile landscape. Stay tuned for days two and three of this year’s event which promises to be just as action-packed.
