Sean "P. Diddy"
Combs gave the keynote speech today (March 14) at the CTIA Wireless 2005 convention
in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Combs, donned in a grey
business suit adorned with yellow diamond cufflinks, addressed a suit and tie
crowd of wireless executives and forecasted the future of the wireless industry.
"I’m not a morning
person; I’m never up this early. I’ve been doing my thing in records, films
while y’all playin’ with your phones," Combs said as the crowd chuckled.
Jokes aside, Combs told
the crowd of tech executives that youth culture and Hip-Hop in particular, was
responsible for the boom in the wireless business.
"The culture has become
the dominant influence on youth culture today," Combs explained. "It’s
that culture that has been the first to embrace new technology. First the pager,
then the cell phone and now it’s the picture/video phones.”
Combs stated that Hip-Hop
culture specifically, has generated billions of dollars for the wireless industry
each year, through ringtones, ringbacks, content and other offerings available
to the hundreds of millions of wireless users around the globe.
Combs called for unification
in certain areas of the wireless industry, which saw a number of high profile
mergers and acquisitions in the last year.
"[We need] standard
formats, standard rights and standard transaction methods to make it easy for
every kid with a phone to know, use and buy."
CTIA is one of the mobile
industry’s largest trade organizations and is hosting the conference, which
started March 13th and ends March 16th.
In addition to
Combs, a number of high profile Hip-Hop entrepreneurs and executives are attending
the event, which will include performances, including Hip-Hop acts Trillville,
Juvenile and Mike Jones.
