Kara Visits CTIA Events in San Francisco

The annual CTIA conference–CTIA reps the wireless industry–opens today in San Francisco, but the action started last night with some parties.

One was thrown by ContentNext Media, the online news site whose flagship paidContent.org writes all about online media, where I talked to Publisher and Editor Rafat Ali about big trends in cellphones.

He was spot on. It’s mobile search, mobile advertising and mobile–you guessed it–social networking.

All of these trends are still slow coming to the U.S., but not for lack of trying by start-ups (and more because of the innovation-free carriers, according to this most excellent essay by Walt Mossberg posted yesterday). I saw a few interesting products at another event showcasing a variety of mobile-focused companies.

And, of course, I ran right into blogger Robert Scoble, who–as always–had a lot to say. And not always about cellphones (naughty, naughty Scoble!).

Check out the video here: