Click to View

The specter of the iPhone hung over the 2007 spring CTIA Wireless show, casting a dark shadow of uncertainty over the whole event. Fast forward a year to this year's conference. How things do and, to some extent, do not remain the same.

As expected, the iPhone's been a huge hit, turning Apple not just into a huge smartphone player, but a significant force in the mobile phone industry period, all from scratch. And while, like last year, Apple did not have a booth, the iPhone's impact on the wireless world reverberated throughout the show floor.

Unlike 2007, where trepidation over the iPhone's impact seemed to rule the day, 2008 saw a significant shift in attitude regarding the iPhone. This year, we gathered from our time at the show that the iPhone is now seen by a significant portion of the cell phone industry as representing not just a threat but an opportunity.

Building awareness of capablities and making progress in improving the ease-of-use, access and integration to mobile content were some of the key themes running throughout CTIA this spring. That is, while there are plenty of data services available, most of them aren't - save messaging - used as much as they could be, that easily, speedily (even with 3G networks), and - most frustrating of all to all stakeholders - on consumers' radar.

For a lot folks in the industry, while they've been aware of these problems for years, the release of the iPhone is what got them out of their malaise and into taking more aggressive action.

So we had a number of vendors, even direct Apple competitors, speaking to us about how the iPhone's drawn a lot of positive attention to the industry. It has also shown consumers some of things you can do with a cell phone and smartphone that they may not have been aware of before.

On the platform side, at CTIA, you had Microsoft come out with Windows Mobile 6.1, which features mostly usability enhancements, and, over the past year, Nokia adding touch screen support to S60. The first Nokia device with a touch screen, the Tube, started to make the rounds in throughout the Internet rumor mill shortly after CTIA ended.

Me Too Touch Screens
And then, of course, you've got everyone and their mother coming up with touch-screen feature phones and smartphones because of success of the iPhone. That's a type of display and user interaction that seemed to be going the way of the dodo bird, due to the growing ubiquitous of phones with keyboards.

While these other vendors have made great strides in touch-interface ease-of-use and capability, they're still not in the iPhone's league, especially since multi-touch technology is not part of the equation.

Then again, iPhone-level technology - particularly in the screen - isn't necessary (or even warranted) to achieve what some of what these manufactures, carriers and platform providers are trying to accomplish.

Take the Samsung Instinct, announced at CTIA, and coming soon from Sprint, for example. It's a pretty slick device with a touch screen. However, while it offers some features not in the iPhone (expandable memory, 3G support, GPS), it is not nearly as advanced.

What it appears to do well, however, is make it easy for users to access the myriad of content services Sprint has to offer, in a way that's pretty seamless and not mind-bogglingly complicated, as is often the case.

In other words, Sprint sees Instinct mainly as a way to grow ARPU (average revenue per user) by making content more readily accessible to the consumer

The iPhone, by contrast, gets people to use AT&T's data network more, but not for the myriad of carrier-specific content services the carrier has to offer its customers.

Engaging Consumers Through Developers, Services
At CTIA, Nokia also impressed. But instead of a new device doing the impressing, it was what Nokia's doing with their Ovi line of online services and its Forum Nokia program to bring more advanced content and services to customers that made an impact.

With Ovi, you've got Nokia combining a wide range of content services for its smartphones. There's the just re-launched N-Gage - as a gaming delivery platform and community - a music service, mapping, and some social networking services.