Last 
night, CTIA (The Wireless Association) threw a party for the media. It was held at the rooftop bar surrounding the pool of the Hotel Solamar in downtown San Diego. We were offered mobile martinis (pomegranate juice, mint, lime and vodka), lobster salad sliders and sushi.
CTIA president Steve Largent said, "We want you to know that we are listening" and noted that the CTIA Wireless show will be held in May, next year as opposed to late March early April.
Beneath the gazebo, Largent let us know that CTIA would be available to the media. He introduced all the CTIA executives.
Meanwhile, there was not a big media crowd present at the event compared to former years. Wednesday was the second day of the show. There were plenty of tables with empty chairs, surrounded by a handful of reporters and analysts.
Overworked, underpaid bloggers and writers, come for the first day, see everything in frenzy and leave the second day of the show. On the second day, the reporters who were left, were dwindling major media players, who are still on salaries and expense accounts. That's who I was talking to.
"What do you think happened with the Samsung unplugged Droid Nexus Prime cancellation?' I asked.
"The box didn't work," said one major newspaper tech reporter.
I piped in, "It could be the box or the box didn't work with the network. So far, a majority of the 4G LTE smartphone on Verizon have been late." He shook his head in acknowledgment and smiled.
My ears were also on fire in the press/media room to listen to any gossip or tidbits of information. Formerly the media room would be abuzz with shop talk, most now are texting and checking email. The press room was about size of a basketball court which made the media presence look like ants.
"Samsung was going to compare the Nexus Prime the iPhone 4S and couldn't do that after Steve Jobs death," a reporter told another in the press room regarding the Nexus Droid Prime.
In the Samsung booth, I couldn't find my usual PR reps, so I wandered with ears open. Maybe just maybe I would hear someone talking about the Samsung Nexus Prime, aka the Droid Prime and many other suspected names. Would I be able to eye the prime suspect, the Nexus Prime as I snooped around the booth? There were no sneak peeks at unnounced smarpthones but loads of Samsung Galaxy Tab tablets and accessories.
"Look at these benchmark tests," a tall blonde with a Samsung badge and svelte outfit showed the blue-suited expo-goer, "It beats iPhone."
This phrase echoed the press release set out a day before Jobs death, showing a chart showing how much faster and better the Samsung Galaxy S II is compared to the iPhone 4S.
In previous years, the carriers and phone makers had booths showing off the latest phones before they were available to the public and the press. There were developers present to answer our most detailed questions. I searched the CTIA E & A floor looking for the tech pros who were not there.
In 2011, most the smartest fastest phones were announced at CES in January and Mobile World Congress in February, leaving little left for CTIA in March. In 2010 there 16 major phones announced at CTIA Enterprise and Apps. This year, we think we found 5 from major carriers and a handful from prepaid carriers and alternative phone makers (Sonin & Kyocera). Everybody, wanted to see the prime suspect, the next generatioin Android Ice Cream Sandwich Nexus Prime which did not show up for the show, making us wonder who will show up next year.
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About the Author: Lynn Walford attended her first tradeshow, COMDEX in Las Vegas in 1991, since then Walford had been reporting about breaking technology for major outletes including the Los Angeles Times, PC Laptop, Inverstors' Business Daily, Wireless Week, Success, UPI, ComputorEdge, Business Start-Ups, Compute, The Office, HomePC, FamilyPC and Income Opportunities As Executive Editor of Wireless and Mobile News, Lynn Walford has covered several CTIA shows starting in 2006.