Technofile: Once a year the leaders of the world's entire mobile phone industry, all 30,000 of them, descend on Cannes in the south of France. And, once a year, superlative predictions are made about the future of the now ubiquitous mobile phone. But this year some of the hype might just be justified.
Many countries now have third-generation networks up and running. They will need to get better, so the industry is coming up some weird and wonderful ideas to achieve this.
One is something called HSDPA, which in theory would allow you to download video and data to your phone at an eye-wateringly fast 100 megabits per second (mbps). However, before you ditch your broadband connection in the office, it's worth remembering similar things were said about the 3G networks launched around the world three years go.
This time, however, operators such as O2 in the UK say HSDPA will arrive faster this time. But the reality is that it may end up being more like one mbps down to your 3G phone. Still, not bad and comparable with current home broadband connection speeds.
That means that mobile video and audio is the real buzz at the conference - being able to point your mobile at a radio, for example, and have it recognise the song, and download and pay for that song in a few short steps.
Mobile video is already big in Asia , in part because of their leapfrog to advanced networks.
But manufacturers such as Philips are launching their own solutions for Europe, packing a digital TV receiver in an area the size of a thumbnail and putting it inside a mobile, enabling consumers to connect to live TV, as well as view pictures, movies and music. In a survey, Philips found that 78 per cent of users said TV on mobile was a good idea, with 82 per cent willing to pay for it. Sony Ericsson, meanwhile, has made much of its move to create a Walkman phone, tailor made for mobile music, while Motorola unveiled a phone which works with Apple's iTunes music store.
Nokia is not to be left out, claiming 2005 as the year when music really goes mobile. In 2004, Nokia sold 10 million phones with integrated music players and this year more than half of the new Nokia phone models are expected to have music functionality. To that end, it launched its 6680 3G smartphone, with instant communications, such as video sharing and always-on email.
The smartphones are also all the rage, with the Motorola A1010, sexy, PDA-like device having corporate grade functions like "push email", true internet browsing and instant messaging, while the Panasonic X800 smartphone will allow you to view, edit and save Microsoft Excel and Word documents and view PowerPoint. Not bad for the business person on the go. And it's only 17.2mm thick.
For the rest of us, advanced 3G handsets are getting smaller, thinner and more attractive. Even the accessories are "sexing-up" such as the Orange Wearaphone products - sports clothing with a hands-free kit and interface inside. But for the technophobes among us there is some cheer to be had. The S-Phone has attracted thousands of Japanese subscribers. Why? Because with no function other than being a basic telephone with large buttons, one loud ringtone and no screen it has sold like hot-cakes to Japan's elderly population. It will even go uncharged for a month. Now that's progress.
