Most people use their cell phones to make calls, but soon they will send text messages, view work presentations, play games and take pictures with them, too.
It's a phenomenon that has taken hold in various countries in Europe and Asia, and it's slowly seeping into the United States.
The trickling trend won't be more evident anywhere than at this year's Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) trade show in Las Vegas, where approximately 200 wireless companies will compete for customers and hawk their wares.
"We are seeing services that are deployed and working," said Seamus McAteer, principal analyst for market research and consulting firm Zelos Group. "It's no longer a science experiment."
While almost all consumers -- 98 percent of them, McAteer said -- still use their cell phones only to make calls, there is already a loyal following for so-called wireless data services, including e-mail, messaging and more whimsical features like ring tones you can download and phone screensavers.
Cell-phone users already send between 5 million and 10 million short text messages each day, McAteer said.
Despite the relatively hefty price of the hardware and service, approximately 600,000 business users carry BlackBerry wireless devices to send and receive e-mail, he said.
In a study released Monday that no doubt brought a lot of smiles to the industry, market research firm In-Stat/MDR found that consumers were upgrading their cell phones in droves -- not for any specific service, but to upgrade to a color screen.
If power issues are resolved and the costs for the phones cut in half, virtually all handset and personal digital assistant (PDA) displays will be color by 2008, In-Stat/MDR analyst Ray Jodoin said. Because of new color displays, the handset and PDA display market is expected to grow by 33.6 percent between 2002 and 2006, he said.
"Why would you find it surprising when virtually every TV set sold is in color?" asked Jodoin. "As we get into multimedia, it just enhances everything to have it in color."
Jodoin dismissed the camp of industry analysts who say Americans won't adopt high-end cell phones and wireless data services like the Japanese have.
In 2000, many analysts said the popular i-Mode mobile Internet services in Japan wouldn't take off in the States because of sociological differences between the two cultures: Americans are too reliant on desktop computer Internet access, which is almost nonexistent in Japan. At the time, there were -- and still are -- only three wireless carriers in Japan, while some U.S. markets are flooded with as many as seven. The Japanese love to spend money on cute little gadgets, analysts said, whereas Americans are more practical.
"I would say that Americans want (high-end cell phones) just as badly as the Asians do," Jodoin said. "They just, unfortunately, haven't had an opportunity until now to get them."
Still, even with the availability of such gadgets, McAteer doesn't expect any significant uptake in wireless data services for another five years. While the number of text messages sent wirelessly now represents a significant jump from last year, when almost no carrier allowed its customers to send a text message to the phone of a competitor's, it still accounts for a mere sliver of the 137 million cell-phone users.
"There is no sure-winning data strategy today," McAteer said.
But one thing's for sure: The telecom industry, which has taken a bad beating on Wall Street, isn't letting up on the services.
Two months ago, Sprint PCS (PCS) began selling a nationwide service that gives customers high-speed data access to check e-mail and play games. The cell-phone service provider released its first combination digital camera and cell phone ($400) that lets users take pictures and e-mail them wirelessly.
"It's a matter of time before the market grows in this direction," said Jeff Hallock, senior director for consumer marketing at Sprint PCS. "The cell-phone call started with, 'Guess where I'm calling from?' It was horribly staticky and ... people shook their heads and thought, 'Why do I need a phone in the car?'"
Now, Hallock said, people ask, "Why am I waiting to get home to send an e-mail, or to send a picture or to play a game?"
In response to the swelling tide of cell-phone usage, electronics maker Panasonic plans in two weeks to release a cordless phone that lets users send an SMS message to any device.
The CTIA exhibition runs Wednesday through Friday at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
