Concerns About Japan to Preoccupy Wireless Conference

Japan will likely be the major undercurrent to conversations held this week at the U.S. wireless industry's annual confab.

The CTIA Wireless show has long played third fiddle to the higher profile Consumer Electronics Show and Mobile World Congress trade shows, which kick off the first two months of the year with major gadget and mobile-related announcements. But this year's show will be the first gathering of major technology companies since an earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan, providing a forum to weigh the impact of the disaster. Technology is intimately tied to Japan because the country is among the world's largest suppliers of components crucial to gadgets such as smartphones and computers.