In Helsinki, Fin., gamblers are getting their national lottery tickets by mobile telephone. In Hull, Eng., drivers are paying for their parking spaces with their mobile phones. In Tokyo people are using their phones to make home movies. In Toronto ads for Fido cell phones show students using instant text messaging to cheat on an exam. Welcome to the wireless revolution.

The mobile phone has truly taken hold of consumers in the past few years, and in most wealthy nations the technology is virtually ubiquitous. There are now about a billion mobile phones in the world, and the increase in users shows little sign of abating as the technology gathers pace in less-developed countries too. Not only are more people getting mobile connections but as the phones themselves become more advanced people are using them for much more than mere phone calls.

The simple usefulness of the mobile phone has been the secret of its success. People are no longer tethered to fixed telephone lines or left scrabbling for loose change to feed public phones. Being able to communicate with friends, family, or business colleagues at any time from any place frees individuals to work or plan their social lives while on the move. Mobile phones can increase safety, as people monitor each other by staying in touch or phone for help from the scene of an accident. Emergency services can even use phones to trace the whereabouts of those calling for help. Indeed, a survey in the U.K. found that 7 out of 10 people would rather lose their wallet than their mobile phone.

Phones, however, are only part of the wireless revolution. Laptop and hand-held computers with wireless connections, aswell as the increasingly common personal digital assistants (PDAs), have given rise to a generation of mobile workers. The average office worker is estimated to have about 15 m (1 m = about 3.3 ft) of cabling in his or her desk area. All of that could be eliminated with two technologies: Bluetooth and 802.11, sometimes known as Wi-Fi (for wireless fidelity). These two standards allow data to be sent across short distances without wires. In the U.K. Bluetooth networks are being set up in railway stations so that passengers can read their e-mail while waiting for the train. In the U.S. Wi-Fi networks are appearing in cafes, allowing patrons to log on while they drink their coffee.

Radio and television are also being reinvigorated by new digitalwireless technologies that will allow radios to convert binary data into text and pictures on tiny screens and enable viewers to “talk back” to the TV with interactive programs. (Interactive programming already enables viewers to change the camera angle on some sports matches.) Wireless technology can also be used to generate broadband Internet connections, which allow surfers to send and receive large quantities of data from their personal computers, such as live full-motion video broadcasts, and could potentially turn PCs into TVs.

The wireless revolution already has reached the farthest corners of the globe—where global positioning system (GPS) devices guide soldiers, mountaineers, sailors, and even drivers. These devices can communicate with the network of 24 global positioning satellites placed in the sky by the U.S. government, triangulating between the GPS satellites to work out the device's exact location to within about five metres in good conditions. The revolution is even reaching inside our bodies; Medtronic, Inc., for example, has developed technology that allows information from a patient's pacemaker to be transmitted to a physician over the Internet.

Two factors have been central to the success of wireless technology: the digitization of data and the increasing understanding of how to make use of the electromagnetic spectrum. When modern mobile phones were first introduced in the 1970s, they used analog technology, in which a modulated wave is transmitted across the airwaves. Analog phones, however, can be used only for making voice calls. With digital phone technology, which renders data into binary form and transmits a discrete series of zeros and ones, it is possible to squeeze much more usage from the electromagnetic spectrum. This enables mobile phone operators to take on far more users and charge them less, allows the sending and receiving of text messages, and makes possible much more advanced services, such as Internet access through phones.

These advanced services will become even more ubiquitous with so-called third-generation (3G) mobile-phone networks. Most digital mobile phones can send and receive about 9.6 Kbps (kilobits per second), which is enough for calls and exchanging text messages. Using 3G, it will be possible to send and receive perhaps 144 Kbps or 344 Kbps, enough for sending and receivingvideo clips, Web pages, e-mails, and more. Consumers in Japan can send each other animations with NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s i-mode phone, which was introduced in 1999 and boasts 3G-like features. T-Mobile and Vodafone, among others, offer European consumers camera phones that can take and exchange snapshots with compatible mobiles. With 3G, mobile phones willbecome even more like PCs, combining the ability to take digitalpictures and video, send and receive e-mail, surf the Internet, and download music. The only question is how many of these services the network operators choose to provide. In most developed countries, 3G networks are expected to go into operation within the next three years or so, though ongoing problems in the telecommunications industry and the high cost of buying spectrum licenses were delaying their introduction in some areas.

One of the most intriguing features of 3G phones will be more precise location-finding capabilities. In 2002 the Pinpoint Co., based in Hong Kong, already allowed subscribing companies to track employees to within about 200 m through their company-issued phones. One technology built into 3G handsets and networks, however, will make it possible to trace the position of the handsets to within about five metres or less. Thistechnology raises privacy issues, as bosses will be able to keep tabs on employees, parents monitor children, and suspicious spouses spy on one another. In light of increased security following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, law-enforcement agencies may employ these capabilities to increase their surveillance of citizens, which thus raises concerns over civil liberties. (See Social Protection: Special Report.)

To take advantage of these new services, very different phone handsets will be developed, and the distinction between phonesand PDAs will likely blur or disappear. Handsets will need much bigger screens and may have keyboards or handwriting recognition. Some may have voice-recognition software, which will turn speech into text. Using Bluetooth technology, the handset can be separated from the headset, so a user can wear a tiny microphone in his or her ear while tapping on the handset's screen.

For less-developed countries, wireless technology holds out a tantalizing possibility. Huge swathes of the globe lack telephone lines, and this inhibits economic growth. According to the International Telecommunications Union, many of these countries are abandoning the idea of fixed phone lines and moving straight to wireless technology, which is easier to introduce, as it requires the setting up of widely spaced base stations rather than extensive cabling. Already, less-developed nations are catching up. In 2001 China overtook the U.S. and nowboasts more than 120 million mobile phone users.