Stories about: Mobile Data Association

Europe's biggest mobile phone networks will meet at the 3GSM conference next week to discuss uniting to form their own search engine to rival U.S. giants such as Google and Yahoo.

The prospect is tantalizing. Imagine being able to access the Internet in much the same way that you do now--but from your cell phone. And not just for checking your e-mail while on the move, but doing serious browser-based stuff too: buying a book or CD, booking a flight, trading stock or just finding the location of the nearest Chinese restaurant or ATM. Or accessing your company's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to check on the status of an order, expedite a shipment or approve a stack of purchase requisitions. Indeed, within the constraints of what can be displayed on a pocket-size screen, imagine being able to do anything that you currently do at the desktop--and some things that you can't, such as pointing your phone at a Coke machine to pay for a drink.