Cellphone executive takes up a new calling

Instead of relaxing on a beach, Roeding -- a mobile technology expert and enthusiast -- took a 'round-the-world odyssey to see how the rest of the world uses cellphones. He saw parking meters that talk to phones in New Zealand, teenage text-messaging monks in a Himalayan monastery and cellphone-charging stations along the Ganges River in India, right next to a raging funeral pyre.

Roeding, 35, quit as executive vice president of CBS Mobile in March after leading the new division of the media giant through its first three years and creating cellphone-based products for the company, home to shows such as the "CSI" franchise.

Roeding, who had founded a mobile business in Germany before coming to CBS, said he quit the network because he tends to work on projects, and once CBS Mobile was up and running he was ready for a new start-up. Before he began a new project, Roeding felt the need to "expose myself to a lot of uncomfortable situations and take myself out of my cozy little life," he said in a recent interview.

He and his girlfriend drew up a list of places they wanted to visit. The list's destinations were more than just a desire to see exotic scenery: He wanted to see how cellphones were being used in parts of the world he'd never dealt with while working at CBS.

"I need input," Roeding thought at the time.

The result was a jaunt that began July 8 in Los Angeles and wrapped up there Aug. 20. Roeding and his girlfriend went to Fiji, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, South Africa, Brazil and Costa Rica. He declined to give the cost of the trip.

Roeding's take-away from his circumnavigation (other than an ear infection): "I have known how important mobile is for some time now, but I've got to tell you, I was personally surprised and sometimes shocked at how far the use of mobile goes," he said. "It actually surprised me that mobile is reaching to the very edges of the world."

By late last year, global cellphone penetration had reached 50%, research firm Informa said. Worldwide sales of cellphones rose 12% in the second quarter of 2008, compared with the same period last year, according to Gartner Research. The biggest gain came in the Asia-Pacific market, where sales rose 21% and where Roeding spent much of his trip.