Mobile communications, including mobile entertainment, remains one of the hottest sectors in the InfoTech market. There were more than 3 billion global cellular telephone subscribers by mid 2008, including more than 260 million in the U.S. alone. Portio Research projects 4.9 billion subscribers worldwide by the end of 2012, which would mean that approximately 56% of the Earth's population would have a cellphone.

New cellphone handsets have been selling at a rate of more than 1.2 billion yearly-making the cellular phone the fastest-selling single item of consumer electronics by far. These handsets are purchased by new users (those who are getting cellular service for the first time ever) and by those who are upgrading to newer, more powerful phones. Most new cellphones carry numerous advanced features. More MP3-capable cellphones are sold each year than stand-alone MP3 players. More digital camera-equipped cellphones are sold than stand-alone digital cameras. In addition, new cellphones are likely to be Internet-capable, and increasingly able to take advantage of 3G (third generation) high speed access. In fact, there are hundreds of millions of consumers accessing the Internet via some type of wireless access worldwide.

In the U.S., the nation is sprinkled with 213,300 cellular telephone towers (up from 195,600 at year-end 2006). The American cellphone industry provides direct employment for 254,000 people, as of the end of 2006. Total U.S. wireless service company revenues were about $138.8 billion in 2007, per CTIA, up from $125.4 billion the previous year. Approximately 84% of Americans have a cellphone subscription (up from 79% at the end of 2006), and they spend an average of $49.79 monthly on their cellphone bills according to the CTIA. (Ten years ago in 1998, the average monthly bill was $98.02, but intense competition forced prices to plummet.)

Advanced services, such as text messaging, Internet access and access to entertainment including videos make up a growing portion of that monthly bill. Cellphones continue to replace traditional landlines in U.S. homes, to the extent that nearly 16% of households have only cell hones.

Worldwide, cellphone use continues extremely rapid growth, particularly in China, Africa and India. In some nations, particularly in Scandinavia, market penetration exceeds 100% of the population as some people have more than one cellphone subscription. Globally, online entertainment, game playing and mobile entertainment such as music and video continue to make great strides. Cellphones are rapidly becoming payment and financial services devices, particularly in Japan, Korea and parts of Europe; that trend will move to the U.S. over the mid-term.

The wireless world incorporates a great deal more than cellphones, ranging from satellite-based services and Wi-Fi hotspots to remote wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and vast wireless networks on corporate and college campuses. Research In Motion (RIM) shipped 2.2 million new BlackBerry devices, with RIM's popular wireless e-mail capabilities, during the firm's fiscal quarter ending March 1, 2008 alone, and the total number of BlackBerry users topped 14 million. Whether it's access through Bluetooth, the much faster data transfer speeds of upstart ultrawideband (UWB), satellite, cellphone or Wi-Fi, consumers and business users alike are becoming more and more reliant on wireless-based services and devices in their daily tasks. There is no end in sight to the rapid acceleration of wireless.

There are certain things you can count on when considering the wireless market over the mid-term:

a) Cellphones will continue to morph into ever more complex, multi-purpose personal communication devices (including the growing use of the cellphone as a financial transaction device). Cellphone circuitry will become much more powerful, piggybacking off the revolution in screaming-fast, multi-processor power in handheld game machines. Additionally, tiny high-density hard drives are now being manufactured specifically for use in cellphones. Batteries for wireless devices will become much stronger, while chips will become more energy efficient.

b) Although cellphone markets are relatively well established in the U.S. and in major developed nations everywhere, the number of subscribers continues to grow in these countries nonetheless. In the U.S., new subscribers tend to be those on lower-cost plans and accounts set up by parents for their children. Already, more than 40% of 12- to 14-year-old Americans carry cellphones. The rest will soon follow.

c) Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of cellphone subscribers will be added in short order in less developed nations worldwide. More than 6 million new cellphone subscriptions are opened in India every month. Over the mid-term, emerging markets in lesser-developed nations will add about 2 billion new subscribers to today's global base of more than 3 billion.

d) There is no end to the ways to make money out of wireless trends. For example, look at the multi-billion yearly global market in downloadable cellphone ring tones.

e) Ever better, higher-speed, longer-distance standards will continue to emerge and be fully developed for wireless network access systems such as WiMAX and Bluetooth 3.0.

f) Security issues such as eavesdropping on Bluetooth conversations, hacking into Wi-Fi networks and viruses spread among cellphones will require more attention and investment from the technology and telecommunications sectors. (Analysts at IDC estimate that the global market for mobile phone security software will reach $1 billion in 2008.)

g) RFID (radio frequency ID tags used to track inventory) will continue rapid adoption by manufacturers, logistics centers, shippers and retailers, thanks largely to an early initiative by Wal-Mart to require its largest suppliers to use RFID to wirelessly transmit data from cases of merchandise. Second and third-generation RFID will eliminate most of the disappointments of earlier RFID implementations.

h) The Apple iPhone sets the standard for consumer expectations for high-end handsets.

i) Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) will proliferate, providing exciting new ways to gather environmental and industrial data, and to foster home automation and monitoring.

j) "Contactless payment" systems, utilizing nearfield communications to wirelessly debit or charge accounts by waving a cellphone at a cash register or vending machine will grow quickly.

k) Yes, the global economic slowdown of 2008 will dampen consumer purchases of all types. However, the cellphone industry is relatively immune, as consumers consider their mobile communications to be as much of a basic need as transportation.

Accessing and transferring data and entertainment via cellphone is growing at a rapid clip. Worldwide, more than $3 billion is spent on accessing games via wireless handsets. Meanwhile, the rapid development of Wi-Fi, the potential spread of longer-range WiMAX and the eager adoption of VOIP all threaten to turn the cellphone and landline industries upside down. Already, leading cellphone providers are marketing phones that work on standard cellphone circuits and, when they sense the presence of Wi-Fi, can switch over to VOIP, wirelessly making calls over the Internet via the Wi-Fi connection.

Consider this: Wi-Fi is only good for a range of about 150 to 300 feet. WiMAX, on the other hand, may be good for up to 30 miles. When WiMAX gets rolling, the eventual effects on cellphone service and markets could be profound. What firms will be leaders in providing Wi-Fi and WiMAX access? What revenue streams will be generated? How will cellphone subscription use and revenue be affected? The answers are not yet clear, but Clearwire has already announced a massive, multibillion dollar commitment to WiMAX systems, including funding from Intel, Google and Comcast. Thanks to WiMAX, the competition for mobile customers may become much more intense. Hold onto your hats-it's going to be wild, wireless ride!