Access Internet and Mobile Everywhere

By next year, Londoners will be using their phones on the tube. London mayor Ken Livingstone has announced plans to install transmitters that will also allow access to wireless internet and digital radio.

Some London cabs are already fitted with special pockets which have chargers for every type of mobile plus iPods and laptops for use on your journey. How long will it be before these appear everywhere from shops to cafes?

But some people feel this is unnecessary, given the risk it will bring from terrorists who could use a mobile to detonate a bomb on the tube by calling the mobile-cum-detonator from overground.

If your book has turned boring and you fancy reading a new one then you won't need to wait for a bookshop. A couple of clicks on your big-screen mobile and entire novels can be delivered to your phone to read at your convenience.

Pretty soon you will be able to make and receive calls on your mobile when you are 35,000 feet high in a plane. (Bet you can't wait to be surrounded by fellow passengers shouting "I'm on the plane"). Australia has already issued a licence to operate in-flight mobile services, though the earliest that services could be available from UK registered airlines is 2008, subject to approval by the aviation authorities. Of course it's up to individual airlines to choose whether they permit use of the system but it's hard to imagine any of them missing such a commercial opportunity. So you can expect to either pay a premium to be seated in a 'mobile-ready' area or pay even more to be seated in a 'quiet zone'. You have to be careful what you wish for.