Day two at CTIA featured more device announcements, more mobile app launches and the continued debate when it comes to mobile broadband.
While both LTE and WiMax have been in the spotlight at this year’s event, the question remains of which one is superior when it comes to 4G technology. Both technologies are relatively the same in the way they operate-and while WiMax is finally being rolled out, LTE seems to have more support from the major players in the wireless industry.
Verizon Wireless is one carrier that’s putting its support behind LTE as the emerging 4G technology. The company’s executives talked about the technology in the opening keynote- Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon, stated “LTE is quickly emerging as the global standard. We’re moving fast to get to 4G. Working with Vodafone, we’ve completed the market trials and standards work. We will begin deployment later this year with a few commercially-ready markets and will roll it out to 25 or 30 markets in 2010, with the expectation of faster rollout thereafter.”
On the device front, several handsets were revealed that will utilize the upcoming 4G broadband. This year’s event is proving that our cell phones will soon become phone/netbook hybrids that allow us to do just about anything we do with our computers. The Samsung Mondi debuted today as the first WiMax-based “Mobile Internet Device,” along with seven other devices by Samsung. The growing trend seems to be that touchscreens and QWERTY keyboards are quickly taking over the simple numeric keypad. In today’s mobile web-centric and messaging-crazy world, numeric keypads just don’t cut it.
With the emphasis on mobile broadband so fierce at this year’s CTIA, the opportunities over the next year for mobile marketers will be tremendous. SMS-fees came under fire today, but the larger picture is that mobile broadband will take mobile marketing’s potential to another level.
