Jonathan Takiff: The latest on getting connected

THE GIZMO:

Connected consumer electronics.

BEYOND SATURATION: In its core business, the mobile phone industry has gotten almost as big as it can. According to the cellular telecommunications association CTIA, wireless phone subscriptions last year reached 270 million - 84 percent of the entire U.S. population.

So how does a saturated industry raise revenues?

By pushing for wireless technology, using the mobile networks' data channels, to be integrated into a myriad of other consumer electronics products and services.

This was a major theme at last week's CTIA Wireless convention in Las Vegas.

GET A BUZZ ON: AT&T Mobility president Ralph de la Vega predicted that the time will soon come when shoppers will walk into the CE department of a Best Buy or Walmart "and there won't be a device . . . that will not be wirelessly enabled."

In his CTIA speech, Verizon Communications chairman/CEO Ivan Seidenberg likewise envisioned mobile connectivity in multiple products - from digital picture frames, digital cameras, portable game systems and music players (some of which already offer the more limited Wi-Fi Hot Spot connectivity) to wireless-equipped road sensors and vehicles.

Seidenberg noted that consumers now spend an average of 26 minutes a day on their cellphones, compared to an hour a day Web surfing at home and five hours watching TV. Just a "modest" shift of time spent on Verizon wireless-connected devices would generate "sizable" revenue growth, he said.

Here are some other products the wireless industry is zeroing in on as ready for prime time connectivity.

E-BOOKS: That "WhisperNet" wireless service Amazon has developed with (silent partner) Sprint/Nextel for the Kindle e-book has rivals panting.

WhisperNet enables "anytime, anywhere" ordering and instant downloads of books, magazines, newspapers and blogs from the Kindle store onto the sharp-screened portable, with purchases charged to an Amazon account. (Wireless network access fees are worked into device and download costs.)

"At least four or five" potential e-book makers and marketers are testing the delivery of content via Verizon and AT&T wireless networks, said execs at the CTIA gathering.

We're certain of at least two:

_ Sony has said it will add wireless connectivity to next-generation versions of its Reader Digital Books.

_ And News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch says his company is investing in a mobile screen tablet designed for reading newspapers with a subscription or per-copy-fee structure.

"People are used to reading everything on the 'Net for free, and that's going to have to change," vowed the publisher.

SUBSIDIZED NETBOOKS: Been thinking about investing in one of those cute, ultra-portable "netbook" computers, maybe to replace that big clunker you've been lugging around? You might be interested in the deals AT&T just announced, for test market in Atlanta and Philadelphia. (Lucky us.)

Sign up at a company store for a wireless Data Connect plan - $40 a month for 200 MB; $60 for 5GB - and AT&T will sell you a 3G wireless- (and Wi-Fi- and WiMax-) enabled netbook for as little as $99.

That's for an Acer Aspire One with 8.9-inch screen, 160 GB harddrive, Windows XP and 3-cell battery. Other offers, likewise saving $250-$350 over comparable store-bought packages, are built around the Dell Mini 9 and Mini 12, the LG X110 and Lenovo X200.

Wireless service-subsidized netbooks are already popular in parts of Europe and Asia.

HEALTH TECH: Broadband-connected devices like Intel's Health Guide and GE's Quiet Care allow medical professionals to monitor patients' vital signs remotely.

Now, Intel and GE are partnering to enhance the technology, just in time to help (and profit from) all those boomers entering old age. Guaranteed wireless patient monitoring via mobile phone will loom high on the partnership's $250 million product development agenda.

VoIP TO GO: Mobile companies make lots more on out-of-network or plan-exceeding phone calls than on customers' Internet-based data usage. The latter travels on a whole 'nother ("packet based") network and carries no distant-destination penalties.

So it will be curious to see which wireless networks agree (quietly) to lease access to the upstart, pay-in-advance phone service Zer01 Mobile.

Introduced at the CTIA event, Zer01's $69.99 a month (unlimited U.S. calls and data) and $79.99 a month (unlimited calling to 40 countries) service plans use the cheaper data channels of mobile providers and voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) technology to make and receive calls.

You may have read that the world's biggest (400 million users) VoIP phone company Skype is wiggling its way onto mobile phones. But the deal comes with serious limitations in terms of availability and features.

Apple introduced a Skype app for the iPhone and iPod Touch at CTIA. However, calls are beamed through the Apple devices' Wi-Fi radio circuitry to an available hot spot. No calls are made on AT&T's cellular network.

FYI: Skype also is available on some portable devices using the Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android platforms. It's expected to show up as an app on some Blackberrys (the Bold and Curve) next month.

CABLE TV GOES WIRELESS? Why are Comcast and Time Warner Cable among the investors in the next-generation ("4G") of wireless broadband technology called WiMAX?

To hear tell from Time Warner Cable's Mike Roudl, it's largely about customer satisfaction and retention.

"The cable company owns the customer within the four perimeters of the walls of their house, but as soon as they open the door, you sort of get disassociated with your customer. We want to make it so when they walk out the door, down the driveway and then drive down the street, they don't have to turn off Time Warner Cable Services."

Oh, and TV on WiMAX mobile devices won't just be for passive viewing. 4G allows for two-way video schmoozing between subscribers.

Love your hair! Love the coat!

THE GAZILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: How much extra would you pay for wireless connectivity on every one of your consumer electronics devices?

Clearly, a per-use fee for, say, location tagging or sending an image from a camera to a digital picture frame makes more sense than a monthly subscription. A common bucket of purchased data minutes - "like a mobile phone family plan but good for a family of products" - may be the best way to win consumers' hearts, believes ABI Research analyst Kevin Burden. *

E-mail Jonathan Takiff at takiffj@ phillynews.com.