Jason Dunn
03-09-2004, 07:24 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=100424&ref=482353' target='_blank'>http://www.thefeature.com/article?articleid=100424&ref=482353</a><br /><br /></div>"It's been a busy week, not just for us, but for everybody in the industry at Cannes. Keynotes, panels, meetings, press conferences -- they all add up. While of course there's plenty of socializing going on, a lot of business goes on at 3GSM too. It's easy to blow the show off as the mobile business just going for a week-long holiday in a posh South of France resort, what with the yachts, and the beach, and the fancy hotels, but that's just a backdrop to the real action going on inside a convention center that's not different from any other, anywhere else in the world.<br /><br />The optimism coming from the industry was almost overwhelming. Fueled by the global economic recovery and given a boost by a monster fourth quarter for handset sales last year, carriers and vendors alike are excited about this year's prospects, particularly 3G network launches. It's hard to know exactly what to take from their unbridled optimism, though, as their hype has burned so many people before, but it's hard to share at least some of their feelings. This is undoubtedly an interesting and exciting time in the industry. There were a lot of really cool things to see at the show, and there were some that weren't so cool. Let's take a look at some of the highlights and the lowlights...."<br /><br />Not much in the way of Smartphone-specific news, but a good overview of the world's most important conference for mobile phones.