Things are heating up in anticipation of the largest cell-phone industry exposition on the planet.
Next week, the mobile industry will gather in Barcelona to attend the 2008 Mobile World Congress (formerly known as 3GSM).
Think of the show in terms of being the Consumer Electronics Show of cell phones.
TheStreet.com and I will be in attendance -- looking for the big breakthroughs and hot items you need to know about.
The industry, and the thousands of people who cover its every move, will be hanging onto every word and display to see what they "next big thing" could be for the industry -- and if anyone can come up with a design to compete with
Apple(AAPL Quote - Cramer on AAPL - Stock Picks)'s red-hot iPhone.
2008 Mobile World Congress
My email box has already been deluged with hundreds of emails asking if I'd like to learn about hundreds of products that attach, link, depend upon and/or plug into a cellular phone. I've already singled out a few gems for possible "Best of Show" video treatment.
But it seems to me that the really big topic at this year's show will be the maturing of the next big thing: mobile television.
There are hundreds of companies that are busy developing technologies to send and receive television signals over your cell phone. Some are available now -- some new ideas will be introduced in Barcelona.
There's one, in particular, that could be a very big deal. This morning,
Broadcom(BRCM Quote - Cramer on BRCM - Stock Picks) announced its mobile TV receiver on a single chip.
The BCM2940 is a single chip that integrates a dual-mode (DVB-T -- Digital Video Broadcast-Terrestrial and DVB-H -- Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld) demodulator and tuner for cell phones.
That is a very big deal.
Future cell phones and other portable, mobile TV devices will easily receive digital television signals courtesy of one small chip. The tiny chip also leaves a lot more room for additional memory inside those devices.
For you doubters, this technology is becoming an integral part of satellite, cable, terrestrial and IP-based broadcast standards. And services using DVB are available on every continent with over 170 million DVB receivers deployed worldwide.
And, I'm guessing Broadcom won't be alone. I expect to see hundreds of revolutionary new handsets, wireless PDA set-top boxes and possibly thousands of software titles to tie everything together.
It will probably turn out to be a never-ending task (as well as a great pleasure) to report on all of this for you.
See you next week.
Gary Krakow
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