Doug and I hit Showstoppers, the pre-CTIA media event tonight at the Wynn hotel and casino. The event was heavy on food, drinks, and business-to-business software but a little light on handsets and other consumer products.
The main draw for us was the Samsung Mobile table, which was showing off their uber-cool European phones. They had the Soul, Adidas miPhone, G810 Symbian smartphone, and F480 on display. On the one hand all of these phones are super cool; on the other hand none of them are destined for a US release. Sigh ... Samsung, you tease us so.
We also checked out Droplet's mobile video capture and editing software, which claims to unchain most cell phones' cameras to offer full 30 fps VGA video editing capabilities along with a server-based video mashup/MMS software package. Droplet's demo was very cool, and we're hoping that they make good on their claims to offer their wares to consumers by Q3 of this year.
Beyond that there were some cool Bluetooth headsets on display from Plantronics and iSkin, and, as I said, a whole bunch of business-to-business type software. After Showstoppers we hit the Verizon Wireless party at Pure in Caesar's Palace. Good fun and light-up ice cubes in the drinks, but no juicy handset news to be found. Clearly the big consumer news is on hold until the show kicks off for real Tuesday morning. We'll be there to bring it all your way.
