CTIA's morning keynotes & Branson
So I’m sat in the CTIA keynote hall and it’s a bit of an arse, frankly. Firstly, everyone and their dog was already here at quarter to nine in the morning (for the 9am start) so every single seat was taken. Hundreds of folk standing, and, well, there must be a good three or four thousand sat taking in the presentations. There’s a continuous Blackberry glow across the hall as people busily check their email every few minutes.
I’m typing this as the top chap at the FCC (called Kevin Martin) — very young looking, by the way — is giving his keynote. It would, unfortunately, be a lot easier if he’d just emailed the text to everyone instead of reading it. I suppose you have to read text when you’re from the FCC incase you go off-piste and end up with a wardrobe malfunction. It’s very annoying though — and not just limited to the FCC chap — when people are reading their speeches and they re-re-repeat words. Winds me up. I can’t quite remember much about what Kevin said as a result.
Lowell McAdam, Chairman of CTIA, jumped on stage and talked without the aid of a written speech. At least, it looked that way. Lowell was at pains to point out that the American wireless industry is all about the consumer. COUGH. Hardly. In fact, I could have rebutted almost single point he made. He painted a very positive viewpoint of a flexible and happy-to-help industry, delighted to reduce prices for the consumer. And he made it very clear that outside regulation in the American industry is highly unwelcome. I think a better definition would be words to the effect of: backward, poor customer service, stuck in a 1970s telecommunications monopoly mindset.
Dan Schulman, the CEO of Virgin Mobile USA popped on stage wearing what looks like a sweatshirt and slacks. No beard though. His job is to introduce everyone’s personal friend, Sir Richard Branson. He doesn’t bother reading an introduction. He knows what he wants to say. He gives an overview of Richard and within moments, the man himself bounds on stage, relaxed, rested, looking a billion dollars.
He grabs a glass of water, sticks his hand in his pocket, takes a deep breath and says hello. Within moments he’s charmed the audience and he starts chatting. Just chatting. He weaves a story about his background, the Virgin brand, Virgin Airlines, Virgin Rail and on, touching on Virgin Mobile now and again. There were a lot of promos, a few (no doubt well practiced) jokes (“UK Patent Office: “The brand ‘Virgin’ is too rude to patent.” Branson: “Surely it’s the exact opposite of rude?”) along with an announcement about Virgin/Google’s joint plan to put 30 people along with a Noah’s Ark of animals on Mars in 10 years — called Virgle. Heh. Wired has all the details or go straight to the horse’s mouth here.
Branson made a key point about the cyclical nature of the world economy. In today’s tough (or about-to-be-tough) times, he pointed to consumers tightening their belts as both a challenge and an opportunity. We shall see. Is prepaid the way to go during the downturn?
