CTIA Keeps NTT DoCoMo’s Booth Empty At Trade Show To Memorialize Japanese Earthquake Disaster [At Biggest US Mobile Trade Show, Organizers Honor Absent Japanese Colleagues By Keeping Their Booth Empty, Providing Flowers & Donation Information]

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This past week was the CTIA Wireless trade show in Orlando, Florida. It’s the biggest mobile industry trade show in the United States, and Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo had reserved a large section of floor space to exhibit their wares for the upcoming year. CTIA 2011 started on March 22nd and the Japanese Earthquake had hit on March 11th. Considering what happened in the country, NTT DoCoMo decided not to make the trip. In their absence, CTIA left their booth empty to memorialize the disaster.

According to IntoMobile, the CTIA folks left the NTT DoCoMo booth empty with a banner giving their support to their colleagues who were affected by the ‘quake. A vase filled with cherry blossoms was left in the center of the empty booth and there were signs all over encouraging the show-goers to donate to the Red Cross relief effort in Japan.

IntoMobile reports that many Japanese companies didn’t make the trip to Florida for CTIA, reporting that the show felt “a little different. It felt a little empty.”

The technology industry would wide has been affected by the Japanese earthquake (not that we’re indifferent to the human disaster there). Some Japanese-developed video games have been delayed or canceled outright, and some video game servers have been shut off. It also appears that the Japanese quake will affect the production chains for some major gadget manufacturers, too. We at TFTS have been trying to write about some of the technology-related angles to the Japan story.

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