A call to consume more
Las Vegas hosts its annual mobile phone industry conference this week, and show announcements have already begun. Lisa Napoli looks into why this proves that in the mobile phone business, phone calls are old news.
A conference goer is shown Google's Android software platform for mobile phones. (Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)
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Scott Jagow: This week, Sin City becomes Cell City. Las Vegas hosts the annual conference of the mobile phone industry. Lisa Napoli has more.
Lisa Napoli: The show hasn't even started, and the announcements have already begun.
AT&T says it'll launch its mobile TV service in May. Sprint reportedly will join with Comcast and Time Warner to launch a nationwide wireless carrier.
Seamus McAteer is a wireless industry analyst. He says all this is further proof that in the mobile phone business, phone calls are old news:
Seamus McAteer: It's gonna be all about data, it'll be all about devices. Devices drive consumption.
And getting you to consume more using your phone is what the industry's all about. That's why, McAteer says, Vegas will be swarming with marketers looking for ways to sell to you on the phone.
Wireless expert Glenn Fleishman says people are placing their bets on what might steal the show, and the odds are on Google and its long-anticipated project Android:
Glenn Fleishman: Google's got its own cell platform with about three dozen other companies that are involved, and they're going to show what it might do, even though it's not really ready to ship.
Like a lot of what will be unveiled this week at CTIA, Google's Android won't be ready until later this year.
In Los Angeles, I'm Lisa Napoli for Marketplace.
