The Top Seven Winners Of The 2011 CTIA Show [From Apps To Tablets To Various Cell Phone Companies, Some Things Clearly Looked To Win Out Over Others.]

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As was the case with the Mobile World Congress, the end of a trade show usually puts me in the post-mortem state of mind. And the 2011 CTIA was no different, so I put together a list of the top seven big winners from the 2011 CTIA show. There were some truly strange things to come pouring out of that show, and a lot of things I wasn’t expecting. But the big winners might surprise you, or get you sufficientlyannoyed that I gave the nod to someone you can’t stand, so after the list, hit the comments section and fill me in on just where I went wrong.

7. Sprint

Sprint ran the show. That’s not an exaggeration, either–Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is also the chairman of the CTIA, so it’s really kind of appropriate to say that. And considering they showed off the HTC EVO 3D, and an app to prevent texting and driving, they did a nice job of putting on a good show at the CTIA show. Not as much so as, well, the rest of the list, but still: they did sufficiently well to rank them in the winner’s bracket.

6. T-Mobile

Considering that T-Mobile got bought out by AT&T, and that pretty much took over the news on the first day of CTIA, there was still plenty of exciting news for T-Mobile customers. The announcement about Blio ereader software coming to T-Mobile phones, the Sidekick 4G, the LG G-Slate, and the G2x–all of these were certainly big news. But perhaps biggest of all was the announcement that T-Mobile customers were going to keep their original pricing on their current plans, as they would be “grandfathered in”. Good day to be a T-Mobile customer, I’d say.

5. Music Lovers

Strange component of people to get the win at the 2011 CTIA show, admittedly, but music lovers had an absolute field day. Not just because the sheer array of tablets and cell phones would give them lots of new options to keep their music in the same place they make calls, but for an interesting two-part item: SRS Labs introduced a new app and dongle combination that substantially upgrades the audio capability of mobile gear, but it’s what preceded this that made for a real win, the Qello Concert Film app for Android, and eventually, a variety of platforms. Put SRS sound quality together with a huge library of concert films and it turns into a huge, huge win for music buffs.

4. AT&T

It was definitely no small shock to see that one company came out as far ahead as it did, and that it was AT&T was especially surprising. And when you consider further that Dan Hesse is the CEO of not only the CTIA itself, but also AT&T competitor Sprint, it’s a deep dose of irony that makes AT&T’s win a huge surprise. But what got AT&T so far ahead this show? Their deal with Ford, the fact that they pretty much took over the first day of the show on their news that they were buying T-Mobile, and of course, the word that they were looking at other deals to boot made them look ambitious, and got them some serious image credibility out of the CTIA show.

3. Cars

Oddly enough, a big recipient of benefits stemming from the 2011 CTIA show was the auto industry. There were apps for driving, a keychain that helped you find your Android phone, and of course, the big AT&T / Ford alliance I just mentioned that was set up to put networking capabilities into a Ford Focus Electric. In a show so thoroughly devoted to mobile electronics, it probably shouldn’t have been such a surprise to see the world’s primary mode of mobility get so thoroughly represented. And yet, a surprise it was nonetheless.

2. Tablets

The second biggest winner of the entire CTIA show was the tablet PC market. From the HTC Flyer to the Acer Iconia Tab A501, there were plenty of tablets showing, and they were getting a surprising boost. There have been some who thought that the tablet PC market really can’t survive, but considering how many models are coming out, and of course the success of big names like the Apple iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Motorola Xoom, that assessment’s looking less and less likely to hit every day.

1. Apps

Apps, apps and more apps. The CTIA show was literally jammed full of apps, software in every type and description. Driving apps, content management apps, business apps, and everything in between. There was an app for that, whatever that might be. It was a profoundly substantial quantity of apps that showed up at the CTIA show, and nothing made the CTIA show quite like the app.

And so, that’s the top seven winners of the CTIA show. We saw a lot of amazing things for a three day gig down in Orlando, and some were more exciting than others. But still, we got plenty of great stuff out of the CTIA show, and it’s going to start a whole lot of exciting things for the rest of the year. Where we go from here no one can tell, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it all the same.

all pics copyright their owners.

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