Top tech leaders talking wired, mobile in Vegas

Kevin Ferguson

Tuesday, March 20, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

While stock in wireless phone companies has been getting hammered in the past year, executives of leading companies from other technology segments still find it essential to join or partner with the mobile or cellular phone industry.

This is evident in the keynote list of speakers lined up for the Cellular Telecommunications Internet Association (CITA) conference this week in Las Vegas at the Venetian hotel-casino and its attached Sands Expo Center.

Craig Barrett, chief executive of computer chip-maker Intel Corp., was slated to share the keynote stage this morning with Dell Computer founder Michael Dell; Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Internet search engine Yahoo!; and Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.

"We need a new name for the wireless industry, because all other industries are realizing people are looking for mobility," said Rob Mesirow, CTIA vice president of conventions. "These computer companies realize they have to merge with the mobile industry to get their profit margins back up to where they once were."

Last year's keynote list was nearly as diverse with Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates, America Online Chairman Steve Case and Amazon.com's Jeffrey Bezos.

This week's conference, which runs through Thursday and is expected to draw more than 40,000 visitors, showcases cell phones with full-color browsers and full-motion video.

Seminars are also slated to discuss the transition to third generation, or "3G" technology, which is expected to bring high-speed, always-on Internet connections to mobile phones. 3G technology is also expected to minimize the scratchy voice reception that is all too commmon with cell phones.

The executives of the world's dominant mobile phone makers are scheduled to keynote Wednesday. The list includes Motorola Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Galvin, Ericsson CEO Kurt Hellstrom, and Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive of Nokia.

Ericsson of Sweden issued an earnings warning last week, stating that its sales would be flat in the first quarter and that it would post a loss in the quarter that ends March 31. The company's shares closed Monday at $6.03, sharply down from a 52-week high of $26.31.

Mesirow, being interviewed by mobile phone at the Venetian Monday, was nevertheless upbeat about the expected turnout this week.

"There's a lot of electricty here at the conference. We expect the attendance to be up 65 percent from last year," said Mesirow. "These folks are not looking at this -- as the stock market goes down -- as being the end of the industry. It's just a cycle and people are going to want to be wired and mobile in the future."