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During the last two decades, wireless mobile phones have gone from a rare and expensive piece of equipment used by top business houses to a widely used low cost personal item. In many countries wireless mobile phones have outnumbered landline telephones, with most adults and many children using it. In many countries of the world, wireless mobile phones are widely used, with the majority of adult, teenage and even child population having one. The concept of prepaid or ‘pay as you go’ schemes have helped this industry to grow on a monolithic scale.

It has become very common for young adults to have a wireless mobile phone than to have a landline phone in their residences. In some developing countries, where there is little existing fixed-line infrastructure, the wireless mobile phone has become more widespread. According to a survey, UK has got more wireless mobile phones than its people.

With high levels of wireless mobile telephone penetration, a mobile culture has evolved, where the phone becomes a key social tool of storing the numbers and people rely on their mobile phone address book to keep in touch with their friends and relatives. Many people keep in touch using SMS, which is known as short messaging service and a whole culture of “texting” has developed from this. The commercial market in SMS’s is growing rapidly. Many phones even offer Instant Messenger services to increase the simplicity and ease of texting on phones, making it more consumer friendly.

The wireless mobile phone itself has also become a personalized and fashion object, with users decorating, customizing, and accessorizing their mobile phones to reflect their personality. This has emerged as a very big industry on its own. The size of the industry has become so huge that the sale of commercial ringtones exceeded $2.5 billion in 2004.

Features of a Wireless Mobile Phone

Camera phones and videophones that can capture video and take photographs are becoming very popular and are being used to cover breaking news. Stories like the London Bombings, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina have been reported on by camera phone users.

The wireless mobile has got many features like internet browsing, music (MP3) playback, personal organizers, e-mail, built-in cameras and camcorders and what not. With all these features, have emerged mobile phone etiquette. Thus mobile ringing at occassions like funerals, weddings, movies, and plays; have been banned. Some users speak at increased volumes; which has bookshops, libraries, movie theatres, doctor’s offices, and houses of worship posting signs prohibiting the use of mobile phones. Many rail services are also offering ‘quiet car’, where use of mobile phones is prohibited.