You or a family member will likely unwrap a cool, wireless holiday gift this year.  It could be anything:  a new cell phone, a game console, a wireless door lock set, an eReader or a tablet computer.  A wireless BBQ thermometer can tell me when the meat’s perfectly done, and Granny can rest assured that if she falls down, someone will come to help.

For these wonders to happen, consumer devices must connect to a network, or some other device that’s connected to a network such as a smartphone, router or base station.  Wireless technologies used for these connections today include cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, two-way paging and various proprietary technologies.  Soon, devices will also use TV “white space” to connect.

What’s TV white space?  In general, white spaces are empty patches of wireless spectrum that protect channels from interfering with each other or just aren’t being used, and there’s gobs of it.  Unlicensed access to TV white spaces may spur a technology innovation tide similar to wi-fi – indeed, the U.S. Congress has taken to calling this spectrum “Wi-Fi on steroids” or “Super Wi-Fi,” even though white space devices don’t use the 802.11 Wi-Fi standard.

Learn about what TV white spaces can do, and why they’re important for the Internet of Things, in my November/December Unplugged column in Connected World Magazine:  A White (Spaces) Christmas.

If this fall’s CTIA Entertainment & Applications show (San Diego October 11-13) had a theme, it would be “Let’s Make a Deal.”  With U.S. mobile penetration swelling above 100%, the U.S. wireless industry is weathering the economic downturn with grace and in some cases, newfound humility. The companies still standing have made the adjustments to staffing levels, product lines, and business models needed to survive, and are anxious to return to growth. Entrepreneurial start-ups want to ride the wave.

The U.S. wireless industry is open to new ideas, alliances, business models, and markets.  Mergers, strategic partnerships, global expansion and the blending  of wireless/non-wireless business models are among the ways the U.S. mobile sector is creating new growth opportunities.

The M2M community is on the leading edge of this tide.  Mergers announced or celebrated at the show include  u-Blox’s acquisition of Fusion Wireless and Broadsoft’s buyout of Movial Applications.  Aeris Communications and Raco Wireless, competing M2M service providers, announced a strategic partnership that leverages Raco’s long-term deal with T-Mobile to stabilize Aeris’s GSM service supply. KORE Telematics and SensorLogic are both aggressively expanding outside the U.S.

Read the full story, including my observations on the show itself (well done, CTIA!)  in my blog post over at Connected World:  http://bit.ly/qR4iJs

mSolve Partners is a mobile-focused merchant banking firm that I joined earlier this year as an Executive Advisor.  mSolve offers corporate and business development advice to companies mostly in the mobile sector — particularly buy-side support for mergers and acquisitions.

In May, I encouraged the mSolve community to “Think Big About the Internet of Things” in mSolve’s monthly newsletter, and this month I followed up with a piece about “White Spaces and the Internet of Things.”  The Twitter condensed version of those pieces would read:

Internet of Things changes it all. Hockey stick growth oppty for Cloud,wireless. Challenges=size,battery life,coverage,privacy,biz model.

mSolve has recently fielded a global M2M team that includes prominent experts in wireless access networks, device development, semiconductors, ICT and the smart grid.

Learn more about mSolve

May’s mSolve Newsletter:  Thinking Big about the Internet of Things

September’s mSolve newsletter:  White Space and the Internet of Things

Mobile. Opportunity. Everywhere.

That’s the theme of Mobilize 2011, and why, this year, GigaOm’s Mobilize event is doubling in scope, providing two days of insight and analysis from the leading minds in the Mobile Web — including me!

The conjunction of mobile computing and cloud-based services will unleash an entire new wave of product and market growth. At this year’s Mobilize 2011, we’ll show discuss and demonstrate how Cloud Computing and Mobile Web are creating a hockey-stick growth opportunity.

I’ll be moderating a  session on “Infrastructure for the Internet of Things” Tuesday Sept 27  (right before lunch at 12:05 pm), during which executives from Xerox PARC, WIMM Labs, Vitality and just-formed Meta Devices will share their insights about the technological innovations needed to accelerate the growth of the Internet of Things.

Join us!  Details and registration here:  http://bit.ly/mobilize_bQW2

The Connected World Conference is the premier event for networking visionaries and bringing together business leaders and upwardly mobile professionals seeking to drive tomorrow’s technology initiatives today.  Connected devices are replacing many traditional hard-wired tasks that use M2M (machine-to-machine technology). Consumers already use mobile devices to perform a host of duties. Toss in enabling social networking, as well as giving mobile workers the ability to access and manage corporate data, and you have the perfect mix for the emergence of many new products.

The Connected World Conference delivers insight into the emerging technology trends shaping the future of connected devices technology. This event gives attendees a chance to explore the strategic shifts that new technologies will have now and into the future in the, U.S. and across the globe.

Check here for details about the 2012 Connected World Conference:  http://bit.ly/ra4oEU

I was so excited when my local utility installed my smart meter last July.  I even took pictures!

A flyer from my utility promised an an energy portal “after the first of the year”  through which I could view my home’s electrical consumption patterns and find ways to conserve.  That portal still hasn’t come online, so I have zero visibility into my electrical usage except what I can gain my occasionally observing my meter and reading my monthly bill.

In February, somewhat disillusioned with my experience, I decided to ask the people who are building the Smart Grid what they thought it should look like from the customer’s perspective.  From conversations with people throughout the distribution sector of the electrical grid, where most of the “Smart Grid action” is happening, I gleaned “Seven Lessons on the Smart Grid” — the topic of my Unplugged column in the July/August issue of Connected World Magazine.

In fact, Lesson One is:  The smart grid will be mostly invisible to consumers.

Read the full article:  http://bit.ly/mmIsVk

If you’re planning to defy rising gas prices and enjoy a driving vacation this summer, then head on over to Connected World Magazine for my blog post about the go-to car for family vacations this summer:  the 2011 Ford Edge.  I had the chance to drive the Edge for two weeks last winter, and found it to be packed full of driver- and family-friendly features, such as the ability to connect multiple music players via Bluetooth to the car’s entertainment system and select routes based on fuel efficiency.

MyFordTouch, Ford’s connected car solution, takes only a short learning curve before you’re able to adjust climate controls, place or receive phone calls or change your destination en route, using intuitive voice-recognition commands and rocker buttons conveniently placed on the steering wheel.

The car itself was a comfy ride, and handled well in some rather challenging road conditions.  You can read more on the Connected World blog and in my article “Drive Trial:  Two Weeks on the Edge” in the May/June issue of Connected World Magazine.

Also, be sure to check out our road trip route:

Day 1:  Long Beach to Ojai, mostly on scenic back roads
Day 2:  Ojai to Lompoc, including crossing the remotely beautiful Carrizo Plain
Day 3:  Lompoc back to Long Beach, with a stop in Danish fairy-tale village Solvang and visits to Missions Santa Ynez and San Buenaventura

As if CTIA Wireless 2011 (Orlando, March 21-24) didn’t already have an identity crisis, coming so close on the heels of South by Southwest Interactive, Mobile World Congress and CES, at&t and T-Mobile stole whatever thunder CTIA may have planned by announcing their controversial merger on March 20th, one day before the show’s “Pre-Conference Day.”  The pending at&t – T-Mobile deal was on everyone’s lips the entire show, colored by speculation about whether the deal would be approved, possible divestitures, customer impacts, expected layoffs, disruptions to the supply chain and more.

The ripple effects of an at&t – T-Mobile merger will be felt in every corner of the U.S. mobile industry. It’s not just duplicative employees and retail partners that have reason to worry.  As Gail Meneley of Shields Meneley Partners pointed out to the Executive Women in Wireless, every member of the U.S. mobile value chain will feel the impact, including companies that sell network equipment, lease cell sites, outsource call centers, provide professional services and place ads.  Plus the other customers and employees of those businesses, and communities in which they reside.  If it wasn’t for all the speculation, the U.S. wireless industry would be collectively holding its breath waiting to see how at&t – T-Mobile plays out.

Will the deal be approved?  Doubtlessly, though the merged company will be required to divest some of their spectrum licenses in markets they dominate – which could spur an expected downstream consolidation of CDMA players (probably not led by Verizon). Wireless analyst Mark Lowenstein believes wireless industry consolidation is about scale and cost:  mobile operators are challenged to provide wireless broadband services anywhere and anytime, but are locked into a cost structure which “… costs them 7-10x to deliver a ‘bit’ of data over a wireless network, compared to wireline.” Streamlining operations, rationalizing spectrum holdings, capturing scale advantages and eventually converting a larger network to LTE will all improve AT&T’s cost structure. Whether these reduced costs are passed on to consumers may be a critical measurement of the merger’s long-term impact.

Speaking of LTE, it was fun to watch the “4G wars.” Despite the announced buyout, T-Mobile is still jabbing at AT&T in ads for their HSDPA+ “4G” network:  “sometimes you just have to pay more to be slow.” Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse delighted the Day 1 Keynote audience when he quipped, “I thought T-Mobile already had 4G,” after AT&T Mobility President & CEO Ralph de la Vega used an expanded footprint for their planned LTE network to justify the merger.  Meanwhile, MetroPCS quietly continues their LTE build-out in bandwidth that allows only 3G speeds  They’re in it for LTE’s improved cost structure. Rumor has it that both T-Mobile and Clearwire’s top tiers have cleared out within the past few weeks, plus the at&t – T-Mobile deal puts pressure on Sprint to clarify their strategic positioning with Clearwire, and on newcomer LightSquared to complete the buildout of their hybrid satellite/LTE network and validate their wholesale-only business model.  It’s time for the U.S. mobile industry to step up and provide, in Lowenstein’s words, “Real 4G, not ‘4G.’ ”

The growing presence of Chinese companies at this U.S.-centric show gave me pause.  China Telecom’s EVP Yang Jie presented a Day 2 Keynote address, the show floor featured four separate China Pavilions, and Huawei’s booth was bigger than Nokia Siemens Networks.  An Open Vista Consulting report released in February shows Nokia Siemens leading in LTE with 29% of 2010 LTE equipment market share, followed by Huawei and ZTE with 19% and 17% respectively.  Counting LTE contracts issued in prior years, Huawei and ZTE lead with 44% combined cumulative share (23% and 21%, respectively) while Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson each hold 18%.  The Chinese are making it clear they are here to stay by expanding into additional wireless segments, particularly M2M and mobile device management.

M2M – connected devices – embedded wireless – the “Internet of Things” – the “Networked Society” – whatever you call them, wirelessly connected devices that are not phones, laptops, netbooks or tablets, and the services that talk to them, continue to be one of the fastest-growing segments of the global wireless industry.  Sprint’s Hesse, during his Keynote remarks, forecasted 2.1 billion M2M devices by 2020 which is a fraction of the 50 billion connected devices Ericsson’s CEO Hans Vestberg promised in his Keynote the following day.  Whether the growth rate in connected devices is 30 or 300+% annually, explosive growth in this sector is fueled by connected health, proximity marketing, point of sale, automotive, energy, greentech and other high-growth verticals that provide high value for individuals, families, communities and enterprises.

Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who in addition to being the chairman and CEO of the Institute for Advanced Health is also the executive chairman of the UCLA Wireless Health Institute, #196 on Forbes’ 2010 global billionaire list, and a minority owner of the LA Lakers, blew the Day 2 Keynote audience away with his live-via-video presentation that described how “Tapping the Human Signal Engine” will allow us to radically improve medical care and quality of life. He showed us a “medical home” equipped with sensors to monitor movement, medication and vital signs, and glasses that can balance out Parkinson’s tremors.  Soon-Shiong’ demonstrations ranged from a miraculous machine that reads brain waves to dial a phone number to an iPhone app for the visually impaired that can identify money and objects.

The technologies that enable M2M/connected devices are also charging forward:  T-Mobile-soon-at&t announced an embedded, multi-mode international mobile subscriber identity module (IMSI) – in plain language, that means a smart SIM that makes it easy to implement multi-country mobile solutions, particularly when devices move across borders.  Eurotech’s cloud-based Everywhere Software Framework (ESF) provides  “social networking for machines.” In their words, ESF “enables real-time communication between any combination of devices and systems, over virtually any combination of communication subsystems.”  Plain language:  ESF makes it simple to connect anything to any network for any payload, ranging from 1-and-0 sensor data to on-demand broadband video.

The most heavily trafficked booths at the show showed off the latest smartphones and tablets.  My favorite was the LG G-Slate — the first tablet to include a 3D display (8.9 inches, requires glasses), plus Android 3.0, dual rear cameras to record 3D 1080p video and a front camera for video chat. More and more smartphones act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, causing me to question the future of cellular hotspot devices such as the Novatel MiFi and its knockoffs.

It was great to see a heightened emphasis on mobile solutions at Spring CTIA this year, which I normally expect at the fall show.  Show-floor pavilions featured Mobile Apps, mCommerce, Wireless Health, Cloud Computing, Safe Driving and M2M in addition to country pavilions from Spain, Korea, Israel, Ireland, Taiwan, China and Germany (a German-speaking zone:  Guten tag!). Almost as important as the show itself, I’m happy to report that the number of and budgets for parties were significantly up this year.  (OK, maybe parties are the most important part…) I attended several well-stocked and well-attended soirees, with more invitations on Tuesday than I could attend, though I didn’t miss the informal Nextel reunion at eve’s end.  The food at Smith Micro’s Ritz-Carlton SODA awards Wednesday night was over the top:  I ate nine giant-sized shrimp and countless pulled pork pancakes…  mmm…  Congrats to Tom Nagel of Comcast for collecting an award.  It’s great to see the parties picking up again, since the networking there tops the show floor and conference sessions.

For me, the highlight of any CTIA show is the people. We work within a vibrant, growing industry that’s innovative, creative, aggressive and smart. My best friends in the world are at this show, and I am grateful for the few minutes we’re able to squeeze in-between other commitments to share a story, a hug, a need or a pint.  It’s also fun after almost 20 years in this industry to meet some of my colleagues for the first time:  there are lots of brilliant, successful people who helped grow this industry with me, but had other company names on their paychecks all those years.  For example, I met Gary Cohen, now VP and General Manager of Flirtomatic USA, at the CTIA Chairman’s Reception a couple of years ago.  Gary and I competed head-to-head when he launched Pac Bell PCS in San Diego in 1996 while I held off the competitive onslaught as a marketing manager for Nextel Southern California.  And Steve Webster, now Director of Project Management for EDX Wireless:  while we were flying home from Orlando, Steve and I discovered that we worked together in the early ‘90’s but didn’t know it.  He helped light up Nextel’s first network in L.A., the one I launched as Business Manager, though we never met because he worked for design contractor LCC.

Next year, CTIA will move the show to New Orleans in May – two months later.  Hopefully a later date will give the show the relevance it’s lost from being squeezed by other important first-quarter shows.  This will be the seventh time New Orleans has hosted CTIA, more than any other city. Shows there are always fun … who can resist the charms of Bourbon Street? Orlando’s taxi shortage and unregulated black car fares make getting around far more troublesome and expensive than it should be.  I hope CTIA gives Orlando a rest for good.

Once again, the global wireless industry will gather in Orlando, FL for the Cellular Telephone Industry Association’s (CTIA’s) Spring show.  CTIA Spring attracts a wide swath of the wireless industry, ranging from global telecomm vendors providing mobile network infrastructure equipment to small companies hawking cell phone accessories, smartphone apps and much more.  This year we’ll hear about LTE network roll-outs, cool connected devices and a rash of new high- and low-end handsets, plus the services, applications and the technologies that keep them all running.  Cloud-based mobile services such as mobile wallet, mobile health, context-aware mobile advertising and location-based services (LBS) will also claim their share of the limelight.

CTIA Spring is always über-informative and also a really great time to reconnect with old colleagues and make new friends.  Come on down to this show this March and find out what’s new in cellular, connected devices and mobile/cloud services.  I hope to see you there!

For more details:  http://bit.ly/fFNthr