3GSM blog

BARCELONA--So what's a big CDMA operator like Verizon Wireless doing at a conference hosted by the GSM Association?

Well, it looks like the old technology wars that divided the wireless industry are being laid to rest as operators begin marching toward building the next-generation 4G networks. While there are still technology debates, most of the world's mobile operators, including nearly every GSM provider, are planning to use the same technology to build their 4G networks.

Dick Lynch,
Verizon CTO

(Credit: Verizon)

This is a very big deal for the wireless industry, which has suffered from infighting and technology incompatibilities over the years.

As one of the biggest CDMA operators now embraces the same technology path as the GSM community, there is finally hope for peace and seamless worldwide roaming.

As a result, Verizon Wireless, the largest carrier in the U.S. and one of the largest CDMA operators in the world, made its first official appearance at the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress here this week. Dick Lynch, chief technology officer at parent company Verizon Communications, gave a keynote speech and dished out the details on the company's soon-to-be-built 4G wireless network that uses a technology called Long Term Evolution, or LTE.

CNET News sat down with Lynch after his speech to get more details on the network's launch and to find out what's happening with Verizon's Open Development Initiative. Below is an edited version of the conversation.

Q: This is your first time at Mobile World Congress, right? Why hasn't Verizon been here before? It is the largest wireless show in the world, after all.
Lynch: For one, we were invited this time.

Really, that's why you hadn't come before? You weren't invited?
Lynch: Not really. I'm joking. But seriously the more important question is what do we see in Mobile World Congress now? And the answer is, if you go back some years, we went down a certain technology path, and it wasn't well represented here. But now we've reached a point--and other carriers around the world--are reaching a point where we have to make a decision about 4G. And we made the choice of LTE. It also happens to be the path for GSM carriers, so it's a logical time for us to come together.

Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone, said during his keynote speech this week that growth in mobile data will soon put a significant strain on current 3G networks. How much headroom does Verizon Wireless have left in its 3G network?
Lynch: In terms of adding more capacity, there's still a lot we can do. There's cell splitting, for example. But we're in a better position than Vittorio is. He has different amounts of spectrum in different countries, and so he has different technologies allocated for different spectrum bands. He is more limited too because of regulatory issues--whereas we have a lot more options and are able to grow.

But Verizon is working on its 4G network. This might suggest that Verizon is running out of 3G capacity. How long before Verizon's 3G network is tapped out?
Lynch: We could go for years on our 3G architecture by adding capacity. And there are a lot of things you can do to add capacity. But they're all more costly than moving to 4G, and they offer the same performance people experience today. And eventually, we think customers will find that insufficient for what they want to do in the future.

We can continue to add capacity, but we think in the next two to three to four years that consumer expectations will outclass the 3G network. That's why we are moving so quickly. We want to be there when the first wave of customers feels like 3G is not really fast enough.

How are you planning to roll out the new networks? Will there be devices that handle both 3G and 4G?
Lynch: Yes, there will devices that do both. What is important to our customers is ubiquity even from year one. So where LTE is available initially in our top markets, people will use that. And where it's not yet available, they'll fall back to EV-DO.

There will likely be more 3G coverage in year one than by year five. We will follow a similar plan to how we rolled out our 3G network. So initially there will be some subset of the entire country with 4G coverage, and we will expand that coverage every year.

How quickly will you be able to get LTE rolled out?
Lynch: We're going to follow the model we used in rolling out EV-DO. And we'll be aggressive about the roll-out in 2010. So if you look at the rate we did with EV-DO, I'd say for year one, we could do 25 to 30 major markets. That is probably reasonable. Just like we did with EV-DO, we will initially offer the service for PC cards and dongle devices. That's the easiest form factor, and it's the customer subset that can most benefit from the much faster speeds right way. After that we will follow with handsets.

During your keynote at Mobile World Congress, you outlined a road map for deploying LTE. Will the current economic environment affect those plans?
Lynch: If by the current economic environment, you mean Verizon's current position relative to the rest of the world, then what we have announced (Wednesday) is consistent with what we hope we can do in 2010. But I reserve the right to adjust that if things for Verizon get worse. If that were to happen, we may choose to adjust. But we are fairly bullish on our ability to do this.

Verizon announced the Open Device Initiative in late 2007, and you said during your keynote here that you think it's been a success. But I haven't seen any handsets announced, nor have I heard of any pricing plan for the service. So what's going on?
Lynch: Most of the early devices on ODI have been unique devices that are focused on specific applications. There are a couple that are using the network for telemetry in unusual places, and some other specific devices such as specialized laptops.

What about the handsets? I think that when this initiative was announced most people thought that Verizon was creating an environment where users could bring any handset to the Verizon network.
Lynch: Well, it typically takes about 18 to 24 months to develop and take to market a new handset. So if you're looking for phones, it's too soon. The fact that there aren't many handset manufacturers that have gone through the ODI certification process is more a result of how much time it takes to deliver that product than it has to do with us.

Also, we really look at ODI as a nontraditional catalyst for developing new products and applications (rather) than another way of offering phone service. That will be part of it, but there will also be devices like blood-pressure monitors that use the network.

I think you're starting from the premise that ODI is all about the consumer handset market, and I'm starting at the point of looking at it as the future vision of wireless connectivity. Consumers might not yet be aware of devices that could connect to this network.

You have explained that both on the Open Development network as well as on the new 4G LTE network you envision all kinds of devices being used instead of just handsets. How is that going to change your business model? You'll have to change or adapt the service plans, won't you?
Lynch: I think in the future we will see data pricing based on usage. We don't expect customers who have a device that works once a week and pushes 50 bytes across the network to pay the same as a customer using 50MB a day. So the rate will be variable based upon usage. There will be a variety of pricing arrangements to allow for aggregation.

So you don't see wireless broadband services being offered like traditional broadband? For example, at home I pay for a single broadband connection and I can attach any device to it. And I can use as many devices as I want on my network.
Lynch: No, I don't. The wireless network unlike our fiber network, Fios, has a capacity issue. On fiber, the bandwidth is yours and you pay for it. But in wireless you have resource scarcity. So someone using 50 times more bandwidth than everyone is using should be expected to pay more. That's why I think there will be usage-based plans. But that doesn't mean we can't package services to get a single price for different devices. We're still working on the pricing.

Showing that its Web application priorities extend to the mobile world, Google on Wednesday demonstrated a version of Gmail for the iPhone that could be used even when the phone had no network connection.

Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering, showed off at the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona what he called a "technical concept" of Gmail even when the iPhone was offline. In January, Google released an offline version of Gmail for desktops and laptops, and like it, the mobile phone incarnation runs in a Web browser, not as a native application.

The software let Gundotra browse and read e-mail even after he switched the phone into airplane mode, which shuts off the wireless network. To watch a demonstration, check the demo video on iPhone Buzz.

Offline applications can't of course retrieve new data from the network, but they do synchronize when network access is restored. Meanwhile, e-mail is stored in a local database on the phone, even when online.

"You'll note that it's very, very fast because it's using that local database," Gundotra said. The application also showed a floating toolbar that was visible even as he scrolled through his in-box.

Verizon CTO Dick Lynch discusses the transition to a 4G wireless network.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET Networks)

BARCELONA--Verizon Communications' chief technology officer dished out details Wednesday on the company's soon-to-be-built 4G wireless network that's set to go live in 2010.

Verizon will begin testing the service this year and launch it commercially in at least 25 to 30 markets in the U.S. in 2010, CTO Dick Lynch said during an interview with CNET News after his keynote speech Wednesday at the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress here.

"We are modeling the roll-out after our EV-DO deployment. So we expect to get to about the same level in the first year of deploying LTE that we got with EV-DO, which is about 25 or 30 markets. That is probably a reasonable estimate," he said, referring to the Long Term Evolution network.

Verizon will continue to build out the 4G wireless network and expects to blanket the continental U.S. and Hawaii with the new wireless network by 2015.

The network will use 700MHz wireless spectrum that Verizon acquired in the Federal Communications Commission's auction last year. The company announced in 2007 that it planned to use a technology call Long Term Evolution to build its next-generation wireless networks.

Several GSM operators around the world have also announced plans to use LTE, which means that Verizon 4G wireless subscribers will eventually be able to roam globally.

Verizon has been testing the service in several areas in the U.S. including Minneapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and northern New Jersey. It's also been working with Vodafone (Verizon Wireless' co-parent) and China Mobile to test deployments in other parts of the world, including Budapest, Hungary, Dusseldorf, Germany, and Madrid, Lynch said.

The wireless spectrum that will be used to build the new network will be fully available in June after all U.S. broadcasters finish transitioning to digital TV signals. Congress recently pushed back the deadline to switch to digital TV broadcast from this week to June.

Download speeds
In its initial trials, Verizon says that it has demonstrated peak download speeds of around 50Mbps to 60Mbps. Average download speeds are likely to be a lot lower since the wireless spectrum is a shared medium. Still, the network will be much faster than the average speed of Verizon's 3G EV-DO service, which typically tops out at 400Kbps to 700Kbps.

Lynch also announced major equipment suppliers that will build the new network. Telecom equipment makers Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Starent Networks will be used for the wireless and Internet infrastructure gear. Products from Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens will help provide the service layer of the network.

Lynch said during the interview that Verizon Wireless still has plenty of headroom left with its 3G technology but that in the not-too-distant future consumers are likely to demand higher-speed wireless connections. Lynch wants Verizon to be ready for that.

Demand will likely come from consumers who want to attach a slew of consumer electronics and other devices to the Internet wirelessly, he said. E-readers are good examples of devices that will be connected wirelessly and will drive demand for higher bandwidth.

Wireless connectivity to the Internet is also expected to be built into other products, such as digital cameras and even medical devices.

"In the not-so-distant-future, any and all devices will have LTE embedded in them," Lynch said during his speech. "We are seeing a new generation of converged devices that will let people do a lot more than we've seen so far."

More independence for customers?
One potential problem Verizon could face as it rolls out this new network has to do with customer support. During the Q&A section of the keynote, moderator Andy Zimmerman of Accenture asked Lynch how Verizon plans to deal with a likely deluge of customer support questions when the company allows people to use any device on the LTE network. Lynch essentially put the onus back on the consumer. He said that the wireless broadband market will evolve to be more like the PC market and that customers will expect to troubleshoot more of their own problems--rather than walking into a Verizon Wireless store or calling customer support like they do today to fix problems.

"Consumers will have to take more responsibility" for troubleshooting, he said. "It's a harsh message, but a factual message."

To some extent, Lynch might be right. Consumers may realize that a Verizon customer support representative won't be able to tell them how to fix their digital camera or their network-connected heart monitor. But I suspect customers will still expect a high level of support from Verizon, which will be providing the network connectivity.

After all, in the fixed broadband market, I don't call Dell or Microsoft when my home PC isn't connecting to the Internet. But I do call Time Warner Cable, my broadband provider.

Check back with CNET News later Wednesday to read the full interview with Lynch.

Truphone

(Credit: Truphone)

BARCELONA--Mobile VoIP provider Truphone has a new service to help frequent international travelers bypass expensive roaming rates when using their cell phones.

On Tuesday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 here the company announced Truphone Local Anywhere. This new service allows travelers to use one GSM SIM card to make local phone calls in several different countries.

Details about how much the service will cost and which countries and operators it will partner with to offer the service aren't yet public.

The service is essentially a substitute for the tried-and -true method of swapping out SIM cards for unlocked mobile phones when you travel. Using a local SIM (subscriber identity module) has always allowed travelers to get a local phone number and make calls in-country for local rates. But for frequent travelers, who go to more than one destination, keeping track of SIM cards is a hassle and a headache. With the new Truphone service, these same people can use one SIM card, and simply sign up for multiple local numbers. Whenever they make an outbound call, they'll be using the local phone number and local phone network for where they are located.

And because the service uses one SIM card, friends and family can use any of the local phone numbers associated with that card to reach the Truphone Local Anywhere customer.

Truphone executives say there is a definite market for this service. Tom Carter, president of Truphone's operations in North and South America, said the people likely interested in a service like Truphone Local Anywhere are airline pilots, cruise ship workers, and other business travelers who find themselves in the same foreign countries all the time.

"We're really going after people who have what we'd call an international lifestyle," he said.

Lenovo and Research In Motion make different devices, but have one thing in common: their target audience.

Seeing that, the Canadian smartphone maker and the Chinese PC vendor have teamed up on Constant Connect, a new service that will make it easier to link ThinkPads and BlackBerrys.

The BlackBerry just got closer to the ThinkPad.

(Credit: RIM )

A PCI Express card, available from Lenovo for $150, will enable e-mail from a user's BlackBerry to automatically sync to their ThinkPad's e-mail program, whether that be Outlook, or a POP mail account. The key is that the ThinkPad doesn't have to be powered on for this to happen: it can be off, suspended, in hibernation, or on.

You'll get all your e-mail on your laptop exactly as you'd see it on a BlackBerry, with these exceptions: you'll get the full file of an e-mail message (instead of the 32K size allowed by a BlackBerry), and you'll get any attachments in their native format.

RIM and Lenovo have spent two years cooking this up, according to Rich Cheston, an executive director and distinguished engineer at Lenovo. The PCI Express card has a Bluetooth radio that pairs with the BlackBerry, which constantly streams the data between the devices. The card is compatible with all ThinkPads built since last summer. The capability for Constant Connect was built into all Lenovo's PCs since then, but it couldn't be announced until now, Cheston said.

The card will be available from Lenovo in North America sometime in the second quarter. Worldwide availability will follow in the second half of the year. RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie is expected to announce the partnership at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.

Check out a video demonstration from Lenovo below:

Mobile payments are great in concept: No more cash. No more credit cards. Just call a number and put down your phone. That's it. French company Tagattitude claims to have developed what it calls the "first turnkey mobile payment platform that works on any of the 4 billion mobiles around the world."

It's just that we've heard such promises before, though we admit that Tagattitude's solution, "Tag Pay," uses the phone's audio channel in a clever way.

To execute a payment, the merchant first calls a number with his mobile device and enters the sale amount. The customer then calls another number and puts his phone in a special stand, connected to the merchant's phone. In the stand, an encrypted audio code is sent through the customer's phone to Tagattitude's payment server and the payment is cleared.

It works. But many clever solutions for mobile payment have already been launched, with limited success. Consider some of the pitfalls. Can you create an account directly from your mobile phone? Can you connect the service to your bank account rather than a prepaid one that you need to fill up? Can you be refunded for a sale that is returned? Can you buy something really expensive?

If you resolve all this, as some solutions do--Swedish payment service Cms, for example--there is still the challenge of getting a critical mass of merchants to offer the payment method.

Will Tagattitude be the first? The company will demonstrate its Tag Pay platform at GSMA 2009 in Barcelona, so we'll have to wait and see.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

In just a couple of days, a few of us lucky CNET folk, including myself, Kent German, CNET News's Maggie Reardon, and CNET TV's Ariel Nunez, will be boarding a jet plane to head to Barcelona, Spain, for the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC) show.

This is where the cell phone industry converges every year to discuss and showcase the latest GSM technologies and developments, and over the years, it's become the place where handset manufacturers reveal their new models for the year.

Just take the 2008 show for example. GSMA is where we saw the debut of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, Samsung Soul, and the Nokia N96, just to name a few. We also got a look at the first Google Android prototype.

It looks like 2009 is going to be an even bigger year. News has already been flowing in, weeks before the official start of the show. Garmin-Asus announced a strategic alliance and said they will unveil a second Nuvifone at MWC. Samsung previewed its new TouchWiz user interface, and we suspect we'll see some new devices rocking the fresh UI. Sony Ericsson also introduced a couple of handsets preshow, and we don't think that'll be the last we hear from them. In fact, the company has a press conference scheduled on February 15.

Other events include a press conference by Acer on February 16 where the company will unveil its new smartphone as well as press conferences from Nokia, HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Microsoft. Palm will be at the show, though we haven't heard a whole lot about what they will have--perhaps a GSM version of the Palm Pre?

We also expect to see some new Google Android devices, especially since a number of handset manufacturers, such as Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and Garmin, have committed to bringing an Android phone to market this year.

As you can see, it's shaping up to be quite an exciting show. The 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress event runs February 16 to February 19, and we'll all be there early to report back on all the sights and sounds. You can also follow me on Twitter for show highlights and any Barcelona adventures. Hopefully, nothing like last year though.

Now that I've give you our take, let me ask you: What do you expect or want to see at MWC?

Adios, Barcelona.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

It's Valentine's Day and the GSMA World Congress is coming to a close. It's been a busy few days for the CNET team. Bonnie Cha and I journeyed from San Francisco with CNET TV's Ariel Nunez, CNET UK's Andrew Lim flew in from London, and John Chan of CNET Asia came all the way from Singapore. As one of the biggest mobile shows on the planet with more than 55,000 attendees, GSMA produced a lot of interesting news, from new smartphones to the first prototypes of the Android platform. Barcelona was a good host, which is impressive considering just how the show took over the town. So as we pack our bags and escape for a few days of rest, we're proud to bring you the highlights of the show. And be sure to check out our full GSMA coverage and watch the GSMA videos.

Sony Ericsson W980

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

Handset news dominated the show, of course. Sony Ericsson and Nokia battled it out for the most high-profile announcements. Sony Ericsson unveiled a new Walkman phone, the W980, two new Cyber-shot models, the C702 and C902, and it introduced its new G-series line with the G700 and G900. The latter two models are especially noteworthy as they make interesting use of their touch screens. And last but not least, Sony Ericsson showed off the Z770, which is a super slim flip phone with an emphasis on Web browsing.

Meanwhile, Nokia wasn't any slouch, either. It rolled out the Nokia 6220, which brings a 5-megapixel camera to a midrange phone. And speaking of touch screens, LG showed off the LG KF600 and the LG KF700. Both offer lots of touchy-feely action, and the KF600 is the GSM version of the LG Venus.

The Samsung Soul is eye-catching.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Samsung wasn't a wallflower, however. The company did its best to make its new Soul (SGH-U900) the talk of the show (posters advertising the phone were all over town). The Soul also has a navigation touchpad that takes a cue from the Motorola Rokr E8. As you move through different functions, the icons on the touchpad change. Samsung also introduce the SGH-F400, SGH-F490, and F480, and also the SGH-G810 and SGH-P960. On the other hand, Motorola had a quiet show. It only introduced a new Wi-Fi phone, the Motorola Z6w, and two entry-level phones, the W161 and W181. It was certainly a change from CES last month where Moto dominated the mobile in Las Vegas with the Rokr E8 introduction.

We also got the chance to check out some carrier and service news. T-Mobile dropped that the carrier would switch on its 3G network in the United States by this summer. Also, by the end of the year, T-Mobile said it would bring the Apple iPhone to Austria and that one of its markets would get an Android cell phone. Speaking of Android, we took a test drive at the ARM booth. Though it doesn't look like much yet, it is taking shape. The LiMo Foundation is another open-source alliance from mobile phones. It showed off its first supported handsets. Another interesting stop was Modu, which is a company that's produced an intriguing modular phone.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

(Credit: Sony Ericsson)

GSMA 2008 saw plenty of smartphone action. Nokia released two new additions to its N series of multimedia computers: the geotagging Nokia N78 and, to everyone's delight, the Nokia N96, which now comes with 16GB of internal memory and a revamped design. Sony Ericsson stole some of the spotlight when the company revealed that it will start developing Windows Mobile smartphone and debuted the first such device, the Sony Ericsson EXPERIA X1. If you had to judge by the number of people swarming around the X1 at the Sony Ericsson booth, there's plenty of interest in this phone. Speaking of Windows Mobile, Microsoft announced that it will acquire Danger Inc., the manufacturer of the Sidekick handhelds, and made available MSN Direct services on Windows Mobile phones. And last but not least, HTC came out with a couple of new devices: an updated HTC Advantage X7501 and the GPS-enabled HTC P3470.

GPS was also big at the GSMA Mobile World Congress. We saw a number of handsets with integrated GPS at the show, including a number of the previously mentioned smartphones and the Symbian-based LG KT610. In addition, Nokia released a beta version of its mobile mapping and navigation application. Nokia Maps 2.0 adds even more navigation capabilities with a pedestrian mode and multimedia city guides. Finally, we got a hands-on look (sort of, anyway) at the Garmin Nuvifone with full video for your viewing pleasure.

After attending CES four times, CTIA eight times, Macworld two times, and several smaller show in between, I thought I have the whole trade thing mastered. You spend the day meeting with companies, wandering the show floor, and battling crowds before returning to your hotel for a night of work. You also go a few days without enough sleep or a decent meal. As I prepared for the GSMA World Congress, I knew it would be different--a different continent, a different culture, a different language, and an international focus. I had no idea of just how different it would be.

Now that GSMA is over, I can say without a doubt that it was the best trade show I've attended. In almost every way, GSMA is better organized than anything we have in the United States, particularly the huge and uberhyped CES. Follow along as I keep score.

T-Mobile's snazzy stand.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Booths:
At GSMA, company booths are called stands. Though such terminology kept me thinking of a lemonade stand, the stands can be massive with a full set of amenities (Nokia even had a doctor on staff). For instance, consider the T-Mobile stand, which was its own building. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out on a reflecting pool with a sculpture. There was a terrace where you could get a drink. Worried about the chilly weather? Don't be, they installed heating lamps there to keep you warm.

Nokia's hospitality suite.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

But best of all, GSMA introduced me to the concept of a hospitality suite. This is something unheard of at American trade shows, which is an awful shame. A hospitality suite is a separate area away from the riffraff of the show floor. It is where journalists and analysts can get product demos and talk with company executives in peace. You can sit down, relax, have a snack, or sip a refreshing beverage (some companies even offered booze). It was a very civilized way to conduct your business of the day. Nokia's hospitality suite spanned almost the entire second floor of the company's stand and was larger than my first apartment. I wondered why the idea developed at European trade shows and I just couldn't figure it out; maybe European journalists are just fussier. One thing GSMA doesn't have, and not that this is a bad thing, are scantily-clad booth babes milling about. Perhaps it's because "stand babes" sounds pretty silly.
GSMA 1
CES 0

Fira de Barcelona With Montjuic above.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Location:
This is a no brainer. Instead of the generic and relatively sterile Las Vegas Convention Center, GSMA is held at the Fira de Barcelona, which sits at the foot of the city's Montjuic area (site of the 1992 Olympics). In between the show buildings is a very cool fountain, while towering above is the beautiful Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. The show buildings were pleasant, and some even had natural light inside. But best of all, the Fira de Barcelona is near the center of town with easy access via the city's bus and Metro network. And as show attendee, I was given free use of the Metro for five days. CES on the other hand is held in Las Vegas with little public transit outside of the Disneyland-esque monorail. Getting anywhere in Vegas during CES is a gigantic hassle with taxi lines that stretch for days. While I love Vegas for a weekend trip, it can't compete with the beauty and atmosphere of Barcelona. The only downsides of GSMA were the distance (a long flight from San Francisco) and that the area around the show seemed to be rife with pickpockets--poor Bonnie Cha even fell victim--but GSMA still wins this round.
GSMA 2
CES 0

Hotels:
I have to give it to CES for this category as Las Vegas just seems to have more hotels rooms to support the show. When I tried to book a Barcelona room six months ago, almost everything was taken. For those rooms that were available, the rates could cost as much as 800 euros a night (about $1,177). I ended up renting an apartment that lacked a working heater, so it was frigid at night. While Bonnie found a hotel, the Wi-Fi kept breaking.
GSMA 2
CES 1

One of the on-site table-service restaurants.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

On-site food:
GSMA wins again here. At CES, the convention center eating options are limited to overpriced fast food stands. GSMA has sit-down restaurants with table service and real menus. Here again, you can get alcohol. The food at the stands was better as well. Yahoo offered several candy bins and gelato.
GSMA 3
CES 1

Show news:
Of course, I have to rate the show news. Yes, I'm comparing apples and oranges here, but GSMA's international focus makes it much more interesting. It puts CES to shame as far as mobile news, which makes sense considering it's a mobile show, but also there seemed to be more a focus on substance rather than hype.
GSMA 4
CES 1

So CES, there several things you could do to make yourself more bearable. You can start by taking lessons from your European friends. After all, it beat you four to one.