Cell Phone Madness

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Philips, for its part, is readying chipsets to turn phones into AM/FM radios, or to receive digital satellite transmissions. Such gee-whiz features are aimed primarily at consumers and signal just how much change is coming to the plain old cell phone.

The price tag for such phones: between $450 and $800, with a service agreement, though prices are expected to drop in 2005. One word of caution: "Just because you can do all those things doesn't mean you wind up with a computer," says Seamus McAteer, senior analyst at the Zelos Group. One big problem with these new devices, McAteer points out, is the state of the wireless communications networks. As any cell phone user knows, there are still plenty of dead spots out there. What's more, most networks transmit data at 20 to 30 kilobits per second. That's much faster than networks were a couple of years ago, but even a slow DSL line runs at about 350 kilobits a second. Wireless providers like Verizon and Sprint are working to upgrade their networks, but until they do, viewing webpages on your superphone will take some patience.

Sophisticated Software

Still, software providers are hard at work, creating new platforms to make the process run more smoothly. Research In Motion and Good Technology, for example, are working on applications that will make it possible for smart phones to run heavy-duty corporate applications. And a host of other outfits, ranging from behemoths like Microsoft to tiny start-ups, are targeting the business smart-phone user. James L. Balsillie, chairman and co-CEO of RIM, predicts "astounding" changes here. "You're going to see a 10-times increase in application diversity," he says.

Here's a short list of what's on the way: Orative Corp., a start-up in San Jose, Calif., makes software that treats phone calls like e-mail, giving businesses the ability to send phone messages with subject lines, urgency tags, and status alerts (such as, "Always ring if it's the CEO"). Software by Chicago-based BridgePort Networks links cellular and corporate Ethernet networks, allowing cell phones to run on voice over Internet protocol. This will be particularly helpful if you're in a foreign country without the right kind of cell phone -- just plug the phone into your computer and use the Internet to make the call. BridgePort's software is currently being tested at several large phone companies, and it hopes to announce its first deals this fall.

Pulling It All Together

Making all this technology work together can still cause migraines, particularly for smaller companies that lack in-house tech talent. Fortunately, there are outsourced services from companies like Centerbeam, based in San Jose, and LAN Logic, based in Livermore, Calif., that will handle the heavy-duty network back-end and server software, so that smaller businesses can start using superphones without having to maintain the software. This is of particular use because it's still a challenge to get the software and hardware to work well together over cellular networks. "You can do a lot of stuff, but it's so complex and cumbersome," says Tony Davis, CEO of Tira Wireless, a Canadian company that publishes cell phone applications. Davis had hoped to see far more smart-phone applications available by now, but as is often the case with wireless anything, it's taken longer than expected. Still, he's convinced that 2005 will see the emergence of cell phones as serious business tools.

Webcor's Gregg Davis, for his part, expects to have more employees clamoring to exchange their notebook computers. It's easy to see why. Before getting their hands on the Treo 600s, managers at job sites would generally see e-mail only at the beginning and end of each day. Now, they're in touch throughout the day. And it's not just e-mail messages. While traveling one day, for example, Davis needed to look at a sophisticated network topography diagram. The document was far too large and complicated to view on the Treo's tiny screen. But rather than cursing himself for leaving his laptop behind, Davis downloaded the document, put it on a flash-memory card (a sort of portable and tiny hard drive), and then viewed it on a nearby PC with a bigger screen. Not a techno demotion, after all.

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