CTIA was a blurrr

The largest US wireless conference descended on San Fran this week. And as always, I jammed 2 weeks of business and drinking into 72 hours. After CTIA I need a vacation, and rehab.

There's no way to possibly describe what happens at CTIA - so here's a few memorable moments, quotes, thoughts, etc...

Early advice from Larry Short:
"I've got to remember to stop drinking at 2am. Cause when I stop at 5am, it's too late."

Party Awards: Worst Party
The MoCoNews Party 'sold out' faster than any party in CTIA history - and was the worst party in CTIA history. They had huge sponsors but still charged $12 per drink! What?! Huh? Have they ever been to a CTIA party? Cause, that aint the formula. And whatever you do - don't make everyone 'BE QUIET' so your sponsors can deliver product pitches! OMG. Go back to what you do best - i love the moconews product - but your party, not so good.

Party Awards: Best Party
Nokia and Def Jam did it right. (*see disclaimer) The only drawback, it was too popular. Hundreds of people didn't get in... the line was stupid long. The bcode thing (wave your phone over the red dot to get in) was a cool concept, but i heard mixed reviews. Or as Brian Levin put it "this new technology (bcode) will never take off if all the beta testers are stuck on the sidewalk!" To be fair, it was not a bcode problem, the club was just too damn packed. Or, perhaps Nokia was worried about the bar tab? ;-) I've got to throw out a big thanks to Karl Woods for the the VIP pass.. and up in the VIP section i ran into Jeff Yee and Brent Brookler of Treemo. VIP's fur sure. ;-)

*Best party disclaimer: Ok, i like parties. But i can't possibly go to every party (try as hard as i may). And, of course, there are some parties that *simply forget* to invite me (shame! i'm sure it's an oversight, you know Kleitsch makes the party) - I want TED to tell us about the secret CTIA party society... :-)

Party Awards: Best "old peeps from AT&T Wireless" party
No question about it - CTIA is soooo much fun when you're hanging with the old ATTWS crowd. The SinglePoint / ZenZui / Ontela party had a healthy mix of the crew including Tom Trinneer (snapin), Stacia Pache & Ivy Cunningham (mobile centric) and Brian McGarvey (ZenZui).

Other ATTWS alum I ran into during the event... David Brudnicki, Glenda Lin, Analisa Roberts, John Loschky, Farah Houston, Teresa Keller, Paul Rehrig, Adam Flick, Ken Willner and Steve frickin Kanefsky! Kanefsky, btw, is doing great, working 20 hours a day at Google, but loving it.

The current ATT crew - Ted Woodbery, Larry Short and Elaine Grabicki we're around the first night - but eventually they were sucked into the exclusive party scene (or boring conference room) and never heard from again... speaking of... i never saw Drew! never. not once.

Other notable peeps:

• Rick Hennessey (Cequint) gave me a bruise. I think we wrestled.
  
• Tim Green (Mobile Entertainment Magazine) still wears converse, everywhere. Never change Tim!
  
• Mike Dulong (Third Sceen Media) is a stud from Maine.
  
• Jack Cowie (Fan Text Mobile) cured my hangover. Thanks Jack!!
  Marc Bolh has the best story about Orange... probably can't blog about it... but classic!
  
• Welcome Dan Myers (the Platform) to the party!
  
• Nice to finally meet you Neil Haldar (Pinger).
  
• Adam Levin (CinemaElectric) treated me right.
  
• I distributed many Text-a-Day cards from my first customer, Greg Lambrecht. And yes, everyone thought your "Lifestyle" card was a condom card. :-)