ITU 06 diary - Wi-fi on 'the beach', what's hot in mobile search and a long tail with legs

In between running to catch up with the great and the good of telecoms, I've been hunkering down with my laptop wherever I can. I think I've found the oddest place yet to indulge in some remote working though.

The ITU conference has its own 'coffee break area', modelled on a Pacific Rim beach, complete with fake palm trees and ersatz Easter Island heads. I settle down there on a green plastic bush - a green plastic bush with excellent wi-fi, naturally - before heading off to a session on user generated content, or UGC, if you'd rather.

As the latest hip tech trend, it's no surprise that UGC is spawning its own buzzwords. One Microsoft exec comes up with the term "15 megabytes of fame" for those fleeting YouTube stars whose efforts - like dropping Mentos into Coke - sees them becoming virally famous.

The conversation turns to the question of the long tail. "Which part of the long tail has legs?" he asks. There's a long tail with legs? Truly, UGC is a strange beast.

A Google representative is also talking on mobile search. The favourite phone search term is a mirror of its internet equivalent apparently - people are looking for sex. One of the other favourites though is very mobile specific - ringtones. There could yet be hope for the content market, it seems.

He warns though operators have to pull their socks up - most content is 12 clicks away from the user, apparently. Ten or 11 clicks too far, you might suggest.

Other long-awaited offerings appeared yesterday too, including Thuraya's latest satellite and what it claims are the smallest ever satellite phones. The operator announced the satellite will launch next year and it hopes to capture 30,000 new users in Asia as a result.

While new regions in Asia are getting connected, others are still waiting for their 3G. While Thuraya talks about its plans, I drop in to hear about China Mobile's. Apparently, the delays in 3G are leading the operator to consider WiMax. You can read the full story here.

Read more of Jo Best's ITU 06 Diary:

• Day 2: Buzzword bingo, too much text and a one-on-one with Negroponte

• Day 1: Big ideas for developing economies - and a spot of mobile porn