Perhaps the biggest news at this year's CTIA Wireless trade show in New Orleans was what DIDN'T make an appearance. While the much-anticipated iTunes phone from Motorola was a no-show, the company did say that it will deliver two such handsets this year, one in the first half, and one in the second, with carriers yet to be selected. In the absence of iTunes, there was still plenty of news to satisfy mobile professionals' insatiable appetite for wireless broadband. The two buzzwords heard most frequently around the show floor were "EV-DO" and "HSDPA." These competing data-access technologies deliver broadband speeds to cell phones and cards that can be used with PDAs and laptop computers.

EV-DO, or CDMA 1xEV-DO to be exact, is somewhat old news, with Verizon's initial launch of the service back in October of 2003. But being first out of the gate, the company now has the most impressive high-speed coverage in America, with 30 metro areas. When we reviewed Verizon's $79.99 unlimited BroadbandAccess service with the AirPrime 5220 card, we were able to achieve download speeds close to 500Kbps with a good signal in EV-DO service areas.

LG VX8000

Verizon's big push at the show was its consumer-branded version of this service, called VCAST, which delivers television programming streamed directly to select EV-DO-capable phones, including the LG VX8000. Verizon was also showcasing the UTS Starcom/Audiovox XV6600 PocketPC phone with integrated keyboard and camera, available with an unlimited data-access plan for the phone only (not a laptop) for $44.99 a month, plus additional charges for a voice-calling plan.

Sprint was less vocal about its planned EV-DO rollout for later this year, however it is already selling the Sierra Wireless AirCard 580, which will operate on both existing 1xRTT and future EV-DO networks.

Sierra Wireless AirCard 580

Though there were plenty of EV-DO access products displayed at the show, none was more droolworthy than Kyocera's EV-DO-ready KR1 802.11g Wi-Fi router. This router features a slot for Kyocera's KPC-650 or other EV-DO card, or you can alternately tether a 1x-EV-DO data-capable phone to the router's USB port, creating a truly portable Wi-Fi hotspot wherever EV-DO service is available. This solution is ideal for traveling workgroups that need to share data on the same local network and have mobile broadband access. Like many Wi-Fi routers, the KR1 also features four standard 10/100 Ethernet ports and can be configured from any Web browser. The KR1 router and KPC-650 EV-DO card will be available as a bundled package this fall. Pricing has not been set.

And for those of you wondering what's going to happen with AT&T Wireless' UMTS network now that the company has merged with Cingular, it's about to get an upgrade as part of Cingular's planned rollout of HSDPA service later this year. HSDPA is an evolution to UMTS, offering much higher data-access speeds, with burst rates as high as 14Mbps in theory.

At CTIA, Ericsson demonstrated HSDPA phase 2 technology achieving data download speeds of up to 11Mbps. The company also announced that it will provide a portion of the HSDPA infrastructure used for Cingular's rollout later this year. LG showed a Cingular-branded prototype HSDPA cellphone under glass -- unfortunately, photographs were not allowed.

Siemens was also there, demonstrating a PC Card capable of connecting to GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, and HSDPA. In other words, ALL of the technologies currently deployed or soon to be deployed by Cingular. Cards like this will be necessary to provide wide coverage, albeit at lower speeds, when you leave the initially limited HSDPA coverage areas.