Today I got to hear the Windows Phone roadmap. Boy, is it going to be BIG! I’m afraid that I can’t discuss the details due to NDA requirements, but I can say that it sounds absolutely outstanding!  This will be great competition for Apple…
Had a wonderful first Summit day today. Attended a couple of optional “side sessions”, then attended the main Welcome Dinner hosted by Nestor Portillo (Director of Community & Online Support), standing-in for Steve Ballmer. Poor Nestor was about as scared as I would be addressing such a large audience, but he held it together. Good job!
I landed in Seattle earlier this morning, and I am so looking forward to seeing all of my fellow MVP peers and my friends at Microsoft. Â
My fellow MVP Moderators were also thrown a wonderful Welcome Dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy in Bellvue, courtesy of Microsoft’s Windows Phone Forum Management Team.  THANK YOU!!!
My hotel reservations were secured a few weeks ago, and I just recently bought my plane tickets, so I’m basically ready to go (minus packing a few days before the flight).
Having missed CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2010, I am totally bummed to have also missed CntrStg 2010.  I really miss the interaction with my MVP peers and fellow bloggers, so the 2010 MVP Summit will be a great opportunity to meet new MVPs, connect with old friends, and enjoy the best that Microsoft has to offer!
I arrived at Seattle/Tacoma Airport around 11:15am, and fiddled around for an hour at the airport catching-up on e-mail and stuff. Caught the 12:30pm Shuttle to the Renaissance Hotel, and checked in by 1pm. Waiting for Jack and some of the other MVPs and we’re going to go grab lunch. STARVING!
More as time permits…
As my first Consumer Electronics Show, I was truly stoked that I could be laying my hands on some never before seen technology, cool gadgetry, and some truly innovative solutions.
Unfortunately, there were no new truly innovative solutions presented, no new cool gadgetry, and the not one really new technology in sight.
Admittedly, I only got a chance to visit the Las Vegas Convention Center (proper), and not the Sands/Venetian Convention Center, but still. Not much of anything that was truly awe-inspiring. Very disappointing.
The number of visitors attending the show was down dramatically for this year, due almost certainly to the downturn in the economy. Some exhibit booths were vacant, which to me indicated that quite a few companies went out-of-business between when they leased their booth and the actual show. Very sad indeed.
Don’t get me wrong. There was an awful lot of cool stuff, but not much was truly new. The best stuff was available at CntrStg, a unique event for Bloggers that I participated in this year.
More on this in the coming days…
We were so busy at the GPS Tuner booth today! I got to meet a lot of show-goers roving the floor, and quite a few were sincerely interested in GPS Tuner.
Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have some spare time to check out CntrStg!
And I’m still dying to meet my good friend Jack Cook from Experience Mobility and MobilitySite…
Today I got to meet the new CEO and Sales Director for GPS Tuner, Tamas Frigyes and Marta Hunics dr while setting-up the new GPS Tuner booth at CES 2009. I also got to meet my long time friend Gabor Tarnok, whom I have known for more than three years now.
Truly a great day!
Tamas Frigyes (CEO), David Matson (Tech Support), Marta Hunics dr (Sales Director), and Gabor Tarnok (Founder and CTO).
A couple of years ago, several Bloggers (Eric Hicks, Johan van Mierlo, Mike Temporale, and Stephen Hughes) went through a dozen nightmare situations trying to attend interview appointments with big vendors like Palm during CES 2007. Quite frequently, the vendor was late or was a “no-showâ€.
They decided that there “had to be a better way†to do this and spare themselves the disappointment and wasted time and energy.
This year, this same group of Bloggers got together and held their very first CntrStg event, where the vendors would come to the Bloggers, and it looks like it is going to be an extremely successful event indeed!
It looks like it is going to be a wonderful CntrStg based on the schedule below:
Wednesday
4:00pm – Doors Open / Welcome Event – CntrStg Welcome Party and Keynote Live Stream
2:00am – Closing
Thursday – Mobile PC Day
8:00am Opening
9:00am Tablet Kiosk
11:00am Eye-Fi
1:00pm Boston Power
3:00pm HP: HP and MTV Engine Room
4:00pm HP: Fireside Chat with Fred Bullock
5:00pm AMD: Nigel Dessau
2:00am Closing
Friday – Home Electronics Day
8:00am Opening
10:00am Adapt: Jack Hampson
1:00pm American Airlines
2:00pm HP: Notebook Teardown
3:00pm HP: The promise of Digital Entertainment
4:00pm HP: Touch the Future
5:00pm – 6:30pm Community: Digital Lifestyle
2:00am Closing
Saturday – Mobile Phone / Handheld Day
8:00am Opening
10:00am HTC: Eric Lin
11:00am Microsoft: Windows Mobile
12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch provided by ProClip
1:00pm Sling Media
2:00pm Ace
3:00pm – 6:00pm Community: Tablet PC Meetup
2:00am Closing
Sunday
8:00am Opening
12:00pm Closing
I look forward to meeting a lot of friends at CntrStg!