The CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) conference has extended its name and that tells us something important. It is now called CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2007. Last year it was just CTIA Wireless. The Association now claims the show targets both enterprise-level companies and entertainment industry vendors selling consumer products. Not such a strange mix when you consider that the The CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) conference has extended its name and that tells us something important.It is now called CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2007. Last year it was just CTIA Wireless.The Association now claims the show targets both enterprise-level companies and entertainment industry vendors selling consumer products. Not such a strange mix when you consider that the enterprise is now getting all of its best technology ideas from the consumer space. But what the name change tells us is that wireless as a term and as a technology can no longer stand alone.Wireless technology has lost its cachet. Therefore, the CTIA needs a hook if their lucrative event is to continue. It may not if the name change isn’t big enough to attract exhibitors in the future.The mobile phone for those under 35 years old is far more than a wireless device on which you talk.The fact is that wireless is now just part of a bigger communications story with the emphasis no longer on any one technology that delivers the message. The focus has shifted to the kinds of communications you can have, such as wiki collaboration, text messaging, instant messaging, Voice over IP, social networking, photo sharing, and gaming.Facebook users don’t care about wireless technology. They care about the hundreds of applications they can download and put on their various devices both wired and wireless.Perhaps if the CTIA changes its name one more time to CTIA Unified Communications 2008, they’ll have a chance. Technology Industry