Our CTIA report is so big, so important, we had to wait a day to post it.
Hit Read More for full coverage of the stuff that matters…
Here are all the tidbits of info gleaned from the show floor:
Verizon:
Yes, the Verizon booth, the only carrier that made an effort this year to put on a good presentation. No new announcements directly, however they did show off 3D BREW games, and let us take a test drive with their Audiovox PPC-6601 (sorry, no pictures, yes, we asked). They did confirm EV-DO at launch of their PPC-6601.
Audiovox PPC-6600 & PPC-6601:
Both Sprint and Verizon versions of both units will have EV-DO enabled at release. Both Sprint and Verizon will be releasing the non-camera PPC-6601 first, followed by the camera-enabled PPC-6600. Audiovox says they expect Sprint to release both units first, and that Sprint has already taken stock of the 6601. Audiovox also does not expect Verizon to release the 6600 until next year.
Verizon also confirmed that their version of the PPC-6600/6601 will most likely have Bluetooth tethering disabled. This is in contrast to Sprint who confirmed (though not at CTIA) that the 6600 series on Sprint will fully support Bluetooth tethering.
Audiovox CDM-8940:
Following in the popular 8900 Curitel series, the Audiovox CDM-8940 is Audiovox’s first EV-DO phone. No carriers in the U.S. have picked it up as of yet.
Audiovox CDM-8915:
While originally labeled the PM-8910 on Sprint, the name had to be changed to reflect Verizon’s exclusive on the CDM-8910, so it’s called the CDM-8915. While a Verizon version wasn’t present, you can simply replace J2ME with BREW on the product tag and you have the 8910.
Audiovox SMT-5500:
Following on the heels of the SMT-5600, the 5500 is the CDMA counterpart. With a Matrix style slide-down keypad cover, Audiovox expects either Sprint or Verizon to release this unit sometime early next year.
Cingular:
On the show floor they are calling it “day zero” of the Cingular/AT&T Wireless merger. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else they are willing to say. In fact, Cingular only had Goverment-focused layouts, handouts, and representatives, that in general were on-par with an experienced sales rep. We managed to get out of them a Siemens SX66 training guide which revealed little more than there won’t be an AT&T Wireless version of the XDAIII.
Kyocera Koi:
Not much new on the unit, but we can now officially confirm that it is headed to Verizon, as shown in the pictures with a Verizon startup screen, and will not be released on Sprint.
Kyocera EV-DO PC Card:
The pictures say it all, Kyocera’s first EV-DO PC Card.
Kyocera Energi:
Not a new phone (already set for Cricket), but the Verizon-customized pictures show it’s also headed Verizon’s way…
Nokia:
Nokia didn’t want pictures. They didn’t want them, but they knew people would be taking them. So, what did they do? Make the lighting abysmal. Yes, they are really, really bad pictures, just remember, don’t blame the camera, or the unpaid photographer.
Nokia didn’t have much new to show, but they did show what they have been announcing. The 6255i as shown has no carrier customizations (it had a phony PRL in it to prevent people from even checking that). However, we will be the first to break the trend and say that Sprint will most likely take it, as they have begun testing and carrier approval.
And GSM users, don’t feel left out, Nokia also showed off the Flip-Series-60 6260, and the non-UMTS version of the 6630, the 6670.
MobiTV:
No news is well, no news. We pressed the MobiTV reps for an answer as to if MobiTV would ever be integrated into Sprint’s Multimedia Service’s 3GPP player, and suddenly everyone either had no idea what we were talking about, or started getting frustrated and angry and no-commenty. Based on their response, we doubt it.
SonyEricsson:
Yeah, you expected something, and, well, nothing. SonyEricsson replaced their usual consumer attractions with a pure M2M (machine to machine) expo to promote their current GC83 and upcoming GC89 data cards. When asked since SonyEricsson still produces CDMA M2M devices if there would be a consumer offering, we were told “not in any near future”
Apparently SE misunderstood the expo’s purpose of showing Wireless IT in both phones and computers…
