I never thought I'd utter the phrase "return to the peace and quiet of the Las Vegas Strip," but today I did.  Rumor has it some 150,000 attendees crammed into the Las Vegas Convention Center and Sands Expo Center for the opening day of CES 2007.  I think I bumped into about 125,000 of them trying to make my way between the various booths.

The theme of this year's show may just well be "Mobile Content."  Along with the 82" 1080p LCD TVs, all of the heavy hitters were focusing on wireless content: Mobile TV, Photo and Video Blogging on the Go, Mobile Internet and Search, GPS, and so on.  I spent time with folks from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Digit Wireless (Makers of Fastap), UT Starcom, and others, and across the board the message was: More and more people have mobile devices where voice calls come first but data and entertainment are a close second.

I'll run down the specifics on new handsets, content deals, and accessories in the coming days, but suffice it to say a few things rang true for me roaming the show floor and talking to PR reps and mobile industry executives.  First, Asia and Europe still get the most advanced handsets first, but the US is starting to catch up (at least a little bit). 

Second, Nokia is serious when they say the N-Series are "multimedia computers" and not "just phones"; their demos of the GPS-enabled N95, suprisingly sexy N93i and N76, and new "Vox" video blogging (powered by Six Apart) and music recommendation services were impressive, and the Cingular N75 will soon mark the official introduction of the line to the US market.  Not to be outdone, Motorola has announced partnership with Warner Music as well as a stated desire to "be the glue that brings all of your devices together" - that is, moving media from your Moto set-top box to your Moto smart phone and so on.  

Third, Yahoo! is making a serious push to claim some of the mobile Internet space with their Go for Mobile 2.0 services just as MediaFlo is making a run for the prime mover's advantage in the mobile TV space.  The demo I received focused on maintaining the familiar Yahoo! look and feel while making the mobile experience as efficient and easy to read as possible.  It's definitely got some possibilities, and a Beta version is available right now.

LG and Sony Ericsson showed a few new US models and several drool-worthy Global handsets.  The LG Shine, in particular, would look great in a US 3G-compatible model.  An SE rep confirmed that "around 40" new handsets will be released this year across the global market, and LG said that "CES is mostly about our HDTV products, but CTIA is our show -- we'll have a few major new handset launches [in March]."

And Digit Wireless might just have a great thing on their hands with the deceptively simple (but seemingly very well thought out) Fastap keyboard layout.  Only one Fastap phone - an LG model for Alltel - is currently available in the US, but the guys at Digit told me their launching another model on major carriers south of the border this week and that a major US carrier should be releasing a Fastap phone by Fall of this year.  And there might just be some Windows Mobile Fastap smartphones in the works, too ...

Author: Noah Kravitz