CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Show Underway

The annual CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Show opened on Tuesday in San Francisco, with a sort of “State of the Industry� address courtesy of CTIA president Steve Largent (yes, that Steve Largent).

According to Largent, the number of U.S. wireless consumers passed 243 million in June of this year, a number equal to nearly 81% of the general population. American subscribers now average 1 billion text messages a day, a trend that’s helped contribute to huge growth in wireless data revenue – that figure rose 63% from 2006 to 2007, and now makes up 15.5% of all wireless revenue.

And here’s one more mind-boggling number: U.S. cell phone users consumed more than 1.1 trillion minutes in the first half of this year. That’s up 18% over 2006.

Other news from the CTIA show:

PC World has a summation of some interesting new mobile services, highlighted by Soonr (software that allows you to access your PC’s desktop directly from your cell phone) and Talkster (a VoIP-based service that delivers free international calls using an ad-based model).

CNet’s Tom Krazit investigates the effect of the iPhone on the cell phone industry, by taking the pulse of CTIA attendees and reporting on a high-level panel discussion devoted to the topic.