The intersection of the wireless world with the Internet's openness has long been anticipated, but it is edging closer to reality as new technologies, devices and consumer behavior finally chip away at the telephone's long legacy as a device used for talking.
The high-profile iPhone launch cast a media spotlight on a device that is more hand-held computer than phone. Google sparred last month with wireless carriers over the rules governing the upcoming auction of the radio spectrum, used to carry calls and data. Sprint plans to build its highly anticipated wireless broadband service, called WiMax, in 2008.
The activity has created opportunities for a bunch of wireless start-ups.
"People say that it's just a novelty now. But when the PC connected to the Internet, it transformed a word processor to a communication platform, to a media platform," said John Puterbaugh, founder and chief strategist at Nellymoser in Arlington, Massachusetts, which takes content from places like Comedy Central and VH1 and turns it into video, audio and visuals for cellphones.
Phones are now at a place much like the PC was in the mid-1990s, Puterbaugh said, and Boston is rich with a new generation of consumer mobile companies trying to make a business in a largely undefined space.
Established local industry leaders are key to the burst of new activity.
Two companies that went public this year build the backbone infrastructure that enables carriers to send network data - Starent Networks and Airvana.
M-Qube, a company that built technology to deliver content to phones, was bought by VeriSign for $250 million late last year. Third Screen Media, a company that created a mobile advertising network, was acquired by AOL for an undisclosed amount in June.
But on top of those more established players are start-ups that are so plentiful that the mobile scene is beginning to seem crowded - even as only about 10 percent of cellphone users subscribed to a data plan in the first quarter of 2007, according to Julien Blin of the industry analyst firm IDC.
Many companies offer new ways to get content on a phone - whether it is mainstream music videos or niche content, like a foodie's favorite video podcast, and their approaches include everything from working with carriers to trying to reach consumers directly.
Buzzwire, a company that received $4 million in venture funding, lets people stream podcasts, live radio, video clips, or other content on their phones. Groove Mobile is a mobile music company that powers the music store run by Sprint and also provides downloads and sharing services to users.
Oxy Systems earlier this year unveiled Phling, a service to allow a user to stream a music collection from a home computer onto a phone. Mobicious raised $4 million in venture backing this year and aims to become the ultimate go-to spot for mobile content - allowing people to search for mobile content and ship it directly to their phones instead of going through carriers' stores.
"It's sort of a cross between Google and Yahoo in the early days when they were indexing the Internet; we're indexing the mobile content," said George Grey, chief executive of Mobicious.
Already, the cellphone industry has spawned new business - the ringtone industry in the United States was valued at $600 million in 2006, according to Broadcast Music, a performance rights organization. The content industry is also projected to grow more than 60 percent, from $2.3 billion in the United States last year to $3.8 billion this year, according to IDC. But many believe mobile content will have room to expand further as consumers begin to use phones more like they do the Internet.
RazzberrySync creates premium text message content - ranging from beauty and fashion tips for teens to "blitz fiction," fiction fed to the phone in SMS chapters. And 80108 Media sends insider thumbcasts, including music reviews, event alerts and news to phones.
Many new companies are also bringing new categories of Web content to phones. Mobile social networking sites, which allow people to tap into their online network of friends when they are walking among people in the flesh, may seem a bizarre concept, but a U.S. study by M:Metrics found that already 7.5 million people, or 3.5 percent of mobile subscribers, use such mobile networking Web sites.
