As we're packing up here in Las Vegas, I want to take just a few minutes to share some of what we heard this morning from Former Vice President Al Gore. He could not have been more passionate about the valuable role the wireless industry is playing, and will play, in our nation's economic resurgence. He spoke eloquently about the tremendous gains in productivity and efficiency that are being realized in numerous vertical industries. Mr. Gore was particularly impressed with the unbelievable strides being made in wireless healthcare, and referred to some of the fantastic applications Dr. Eric Topol spoke about yesterday from the keynote stage. You can see those by going to our Show Coverage section here on the web site, and click on Dr. Topol in the left-side navigation menu.
 
The former Vice-President acknowledged that while we've come so far, so fast, as an industry, the most exciting prospect is that the best is yet to come. He pointed out the leading role the industry will play in helping solve the climate crisis, and reminded the packed house of the responsibility we all share in being a part of the solution. Take a few moments and watch the clips we've provided of Mr. Gore's remarks. It should make everyone in the history proud to be a part of it, and remind all of us that the innovation and creativity that brought us to this point are the same trademarks that will spur more growth and even brighter days down the road.

Smart Energy is the International CTIA WIRELESS 2009® theme for Day 3, and The Honorable Al Gore is leading this day off with his timely keynote address. This is the last day of this year’s show, so before you leave, check out our green exhibitors, such as AFL Network Services, Inc., Black & Veatch, BridgeWave Communications, dotMobi, DragonWave Inc., EDX Wireless, Embarc Information Technology P-Ltd., ESRI, Generac Power Systems, NetComm Ltd., Novotech, Polyphaser Corporation/Transtector Systems, ReliOn, TekData Inc., Teletracker Inc., Wireless Applications Corp., and Wyless Group.

I also had the pleasure of interviewing Anne Larilahti, who is the Global Head of Environmentally Sustainable Business at Nokia Siemens. Please watch below for more about green initiatives and smart energy in the wireless industry.

Green initiatives is the theme on Day Three at CTIA WIRELESS 2009® as the Honorable Al Gore takes to the keynote stage to talk about the green side of wireless.Watch video highlights of the keynotes, listen to podcasts featuring a selection of educational sessions, and take a tour through the camera phone photo gallery. Your one-stop shop for complete show coverage!

Despite the economy being down, and wireless medical devices are on the rise!

Bringing mobile health to the masses is Day 2 keynote speaker Dr. Eric Topol. Formerly of the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Topol is now the Director of the Transitional Sciences Division and Chief Academic Officer of the Scripps Clinic Research Institute.

The medical industry in the U.S. is a $2.2 trillion dollar a year industry, which is 16% of our GDP. However, we are ranked 19th among the world’s countries in this category, and still 100K persons die here in hospitals from medical errors every year.

There is tremendous potential for Digital Medical wireless devices in many medical areas including:  high-risk pregnancy, sleep and behavior, custom fitness, virtual diet coach, continuous vital signs (for those transferred home from an ICU), the electronic cardiogram, in addition to the ‘pill phone’ that is able to interact with your body and notify you wirelessly of its changes. Another such device is the continuous glucose monitor – CGM – for diabetes sufferers, this can act also as a monitor for glucose, or for blood pressure, but also as an instant insulin pump.

What we are witnessing is really a sea change – the way that medicine is practiced, and medicine and support can be delivered. With wireless medicine, we are really seeing a flat world, across the globe, with our reliance on mobile, and medicine and health support can know no boundaries.

One incredibly interesting issue is microchips. In pills. What a crazy innovation! Pills that are being revamped with microchips to be guided through your body’s systems, programmed to release certain meds, at certain points, via wireless tracking and computers. All through wireless activity relaying information, treatment, and the delivery of medicines within your body. For meds, it gives you the right dose, at the right time. It works like this – patient to device, then to hub, then to caregiver, then back through hub, then to device, then to patient.

Dr. Topol also spoke about reducing medical errors and reducing need for bed space at hospitals, with out-patient and home-tracking systems. This technology would easily enable doctors to monitor, via wireless, patients in the middle of the night. Dr. Topol predicts out-patient tracking, at home, with remote monitoring, will be very big. And critical to the future of medicine.

Each health issue, no matter your condition/disease/affliction, all transmitted with data relay through wireless, will definitely boost to emergency and physician care readiness. Look at brain waves while you sleep for rest and behavioral studies, or look at ‘smart band-aids’ for calories and body fat and diet issues…all from the convenience of your mobile device.

For customers, we are looking solely at the ‘connected’ experience. We want services, innovations, and products delivered to whatever screen, to whatever device, whenever. This includes three screens...PC, television, mobile device.

Robbie Bach, President of Entertainment and Development Division at Microsoft Corporation, spoke from the Day 2 keynote stage at International CTIA WIRELESS 2009® about how consumers can connect simply, easily and wirelessly.

Since announcing it at the Mobile Wireless Conference, Microsoft has received tremendous support from OEMs and from operators for their upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5, which is to be unveiled this fall, with Windows 7 right on its tail: smaller footprints, faster speeds, bigger security, and everyday tasks made much simpler, which is what every consumer wants.

Microsoft’s Gian made a demonstration onstage with some smaller devices, or netbooks, using imbedded 3G mobile broadband. He also shared the real CLOUD scenario, where you can use the MyPhone service to back up all of your wireless phone data, emails, texts, messenges, pics, tunes, videos, etc, all by linking it up to the service on your PC.  The CLOUD has xbox capabilities, and also adds slingbox onto your mobile device through the Microsoft platform. It is the opportunity to connect all 3 screens together – and a great way to connect and to deliver everything that the consumers desire.

Once you have all of your life in one device, you’ll want this device to represent the real you! Designer Isaac Mizrahi talked about customizing, personalizing, and the individual experience.  He has designed a number of bold, fun, digital wallpaper backgrounds for your windows mobile device.  Yes… we’re talking plaids and polka dots. All of which match his clothing lines. Your device is not only a lifeline, for organizing, but also a fashion statement—now THAT is mobile life!

According to Ben Wolff,  the 1st Keynote speaker of the day at CTIA WIRELESS 2009® and co-Chairman of Clearwire, his company plans to roll out 4G WiMAX service to 80+ markets by the end of 2010, which will serve about 120 million people. He framed the success of such a venture by highlighting the history of the Internet, noting that the first “node” of the Internet was actually put in place about 40 years ago. He also reinforced the huge commitment that has been shown over the years -- noting that as our country's Internet usage grew, companies responded swiftly by developing greater networks with greater capabilities. He then stated that from 2005-2012, wireless Internet traffic will have likely increased 1000x fold -- and by 2013, nearly 64% of mobile data traffic by 2013 will be video. And he's right, the progress has been truly remarkable.

He then looked to the future: He explained that as we continue to develop bigger and faster wireless networks over time, people's Internet usage will consequently increase as well. Between 2008-2013, he said that wireless will have likely experienced an increase in usage of at least 66%. He then predicted that this will at least double every year going forward.

Finally, he addressed a simple (yet extremely significant) question: can we keep up with that kind of demand? "The rules are changing – no more is it 'Coverage Coverage Coverage,'  now it's 'Capacity Capacity Capacity' -- Capacity is now our dilemma." Stating that 3G technology is of the past, and 4G is the future, he feels that "complete package" (delivering and catering to consumer demand) involves 4 categories – spectrum, technology, network and devices. Ideally, he claimed, each network provider would have access to 100 MHz of spectrum.

Wolff concluded his speech by citing a December 2008 Pew report that we at CTIA also feel is noteworthy when the discussion turns to consumer demand: Pew forecasts that the mobile device will be the premier connection tool to the Internet for most people in the world by 2020 --> In that case, it is incredibly positive that the mobile market continues to be robustly competitive -- this will help ensure that consumer demands of the future will be timely met.

Earlier today, Steve Largent discussed the results of a new survey commissioned by CTIA and released this morning by Harris Interactive. The survey reveals that wireless clearly plays a key role in American enterprise today -- and it will continue to play a major role in the U.S. economy, even in this downturn. According to 45% of respondents of the survey, wireless is important or absolutely essential to their operation. Looking forward, 15% of respondents can already say that their business will improve in 2009 directly because of wireless -- whether its because of increased productivity or cost reduction as a result of deploying wireless applications.

To illustrate exactly how truly beneficial wireless has been for some companies, Steve discussed Safelite Auto Glass, America’s largest manufacturer and installer of windshields today, which serves more than 4 million motorists and employs a workforce of 13,000 people.  With wireless, this large business can operate on a tighter schedule, increase their workload, and service more customers. He noted that they have gone “virtually paperless" by transmitting invoices, receipts, and digital signatures over wireless. They have also invoked Bluetooth printing. By doing so, they have truly revolutionized their customer care --  in fact, Steve quoted a Safelite representative who stated that “wireless is pretty much the perfect answer...[it is] the best possible resource and...[provides] a tremendous edge and power over our competitors.”

To purchase a summary of this study, “Mobility Means Business - The Wireless Road to Prosperity" please visit Harris Interactive's website.  There will also be a free webinar related to this survey on April 9, 2009 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM EDT -- Presenters include Harris Interactive Technology Consultants, Joe Porus and Milton Ellis.

You’ve heard (and read) us talk about how the U.S. is the most efficient and effective commercial users of spectrum in the world.  We do more with less than anyone else.

But we are at a very important crossroads – and we must figure out how we are going to continue to encourage and foster innovation while recognizing that there is a finite amount of spectrum available.

We commissioned a report , conducted by Rysavy Research, which essentially laid out the current situation we are facing and what needs to happen now.  It also said that without more spectrum, all users will find themselves with a slower connection on wireless devices which will impact everything from text messaging to mobile broadband. The report  said it was vital that the conversation starts now because the 700 Mhz auction took a decade or so for a conclusion.

Both WIRED and New York Times bloggers wrote about the paper and both had an interesting take on what this means for the industry.

But my favorite line comes from Professor William Webb, Head of Research and Development, Ofcom (British communications regulator) who wrote the report's forward.  He said, "...it is also worth noting that while innovation occurs in commons it also happens in licensed bands, and indeed many of the most important innovations of the last decade such as GPS, wireless email, mobile TV, texting and more have all occurred in licensed spectrum."