What’s your videotone?
You had to know it was coming: ringtones plus video. As wireless networks and phones improve, video is going to play a greater role in our mobile lives. And video conferencing via cell could be just over the hill.
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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: You may still call it your cell phone, but the mobile industry has taken to calling it the Swiss Army Knife of the 21st Century. All the latest mobile gear and services will be on display this week at a major conference. Marketplace’s Janet Babin reports from the Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio.
JANET BABIN: The CTIA Wireless conference is the U.S. showcase for what has become a $500 billion global industry, with billions of mobile subscribers.
Jim Harvey is with Motricity, a mobile content management company. He says hot services on display at this year’s conference include video tones — that’s a ring tone with video — and phone calls with video capability.
JIM HARVEY: As networks improve, as the devices have more storage and more memory, you’re going to see more and more cool video services and things like that for your phone, so there’s going to be a lot of talk around video.
Harvey says the mobile phone has morphed into a multifaceted lifestyle device, that can do everything from play your favorite movies to pay your bills.
Keynote speakers at CTIA include Viacom’s CEO, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.