CTIA 2005 Picks and Pans

The three-day CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Expo wrapped up on Thursday. At the show, companies touted a range of new kinds of products -- some high tech, others decidedly low-tech -- we're likely to see on store shelves in the coming year. I saw a lot of really great-looking gadgets, interesting new services for mobile phones, and accessories that were both functional and, well, really functional.

Here are some of my picks of the most eye-catching products, services, and trends I found at the show this year. In addition to photos, I've also posted some podcast MP3s of interviews I conducted with vendors, attendees, and analysts as I wandered the expo floor.

'Cool' spelled with a Q

Qool Labs, a phone maker from Singapore, showed off its Windows Mobile Smartphone it plans to introduce in the US for the first time: The QDA is equipped with all the bells and whistles you'd expect in a PDA-phone, but also is a multimedia-heavy device that wants to be your phone-PDA-mp3 player. The device was shown off with several accessories, including a screen-protection cover that also has a dialpad built in, and several kinds of docks that both charge the device and let you play music through the dock's built-in speakers.

Most interesting-sounding service nobody would/could use: SMS vending machines

A company called SimpleWire showed off a vending machine that dispenses drinks after you engage in a little SMS chat session with it. First, you send an SMS text message to a number displayed on the vending machine. Next, the machine sends you a confirmation message. When you reply to the confirmation, it activates the machine, which enables you to choose one of the drinks, and simultaneously bills you for the cost of the beverage. I spoke with several attendees who expressed keen interest in the service, and who expounded on how mobile phones may be the next big payment mechanism, but who nevertheless didn't want to use the vending machine, or had trouble with the demo.
Listen: SMS vending machine interviews (3MB mp3)

Audio ringtones are so last year; Video is in

Several companies, including MobiTV and Funny Little Movies, showed off new video-on-demand services for busy mobile professionals who have a few bucks to spend on minute-long comedy spots or live TV news feeds. Other companies demonstrated video ringtones, which play a little animation on the screen when certain people call your phone. One analyst I interviewed at the show said it's just too easy to pirate some paid ringtones and get them for nothing at all. Maybe paid video clips will be harder to steal.
Listen: Using video ringtones effectively (1.1MB mp3)
Listen: How pirates steal ringtones (1.2MB mp3)

More storage in microscopic memory cards

SanDisk had the biggest booth showing off the smallest storage devices you've ever seen: MicroSD cards that are so small you might mistake them for a bit of corn chip instead of a sophisticated silicon chip. They also showed off the iNAND, a new chip designed for phones that can store up to 4GB of data in something the size of your fingernail. I spoke with a SanDisk staffer who gave me the lowdown on SanDisk's big, small storage.
Listen: Why storage devices are getting so small (1.6MB mp3)

Now, where did I leave that phone?

Wherify showed off its latest model of the Wherifone, a cellphone with built in GPS. It's designed for kids, with a small dialpad that only calls preset numbers the parent enters through a Web browser. Parents can also keep tabs on their kid's location using a Web page and the phone's GPS capabilities. We've covered the phone before but the company is still trying to get approval to resell minutes in the US from mobile service providers. Wherify reps gave us some surprising info about future products. And NiteIze told us about its new lines of rugged cases for mobile phones that can also hold flashlights, multi-tools, and, if necessary, grappling hooks.
Listen: Wherify discusses future product lines (1.5MB mp3)
Listen: NiteIze shows off its ruggedized phone cases (1.9MB mp3)

You've got to drive that frog away

Among the most bizarre attendees at CTIA was the (in)famous Crazy Frog, a character culled from nightmares who has become a European ringtone superstar. Verisign sponsored a "get photographed with the frog" booth, where anyone could get a nicely printed photo with a man in the Crazy Frog suit you see here. The frog was extremely popular at the expo, especially with attendees who were visiting from the UK, where advertisements for Crazy Frog ringtones are shown on television every six minutes---this in a country with only three broadcast TV channels that show ads; A ringtone called Crazy Frog Axel F made it to the top of the pop music singles charts in Britain in May, the first such "song" to do so. Reportedly, Coldplay was not amused with this novelty, which beat that band's actual song out of the number one spot by a huge margin. Sounds like a case of meme-envy to me.