But Gold stressed that some people will still want cheaper phones and won't desire much choice in terms of mobile content. As a result, closed systems won't go away entirely.

The biggest story in this area will be the release, at the end of next year, of the first phones based on Google's Android platform. They won't initially be a big hit, the experts agreed.

"They won't be as advanced as people expect," said Dulaney. "We'll find that Google has a lot of lessons to learn about mobility."

5. Can the iPhone be beaten?

With most smart phones coming down, the iPhone stands alone at the high end of the market. Can Apple's competitors catch up?

"They won't compete with the iPhone in 2008," Kerton said. "Apple has a culture and a successful history of providing products that give consumers what they want without feature bloat. Other companies don't have that culture." Instead, Kerton added, most vendors pack in too many features, making devices hard to use.

On the other hand, competitors' smart phones will be better because of the iPhone, Kerton said.

"Apple has raised the bar and [competitors] are improving their devices," he said. "But they won't catch up with Apple."

Two nonstories

Finally, here are two stories that may get a lot of attention in 2008, but they won't change the way people are currently mobile.

1. Muni Wi-Fi

As mentioned previously, muni Wi-Fi didn't succeed in 2007, nor will it become common in 2008.

"It's not as dead as it looks, but it won't be a big story in 2008," Kerton said. "In 2007, we found where it really belongs."

Moving forward, cities that become so-called anchor tenants, or that use the network for applications such as public safety, will find the technology cost-effective. After deploying citywide Wi-Fi for themselves, they could make it available to all citizens. Otherwise, few cities will deploy large Wi-Fi networks, Kerton said.

2. The spectrum auction

A big story early in 2008 will be the Federal Communication Commission's auction of a huge swath of 700-MHz spectrum starting Jan. 24. The FCC has mandated that some of that spectrum be open, or available to any device, not just devices controlled by the carrier.

Google has indicated it could bid on a chunk of that spectrum, and there's been speculation that other companies that aren't already in the cellular business will also bid. Surely, the auction itself will be a big story, but not much will change because of it, the experts agreed.

"Google will bid, but the question is, if they actually win, what will they do with it?" Gold asked. "Google would be insane to build out their own network, so they'd rent out [the spectrum] with stipulations -- you can have the spectrum if you allow our [Android] devices on it. But in the end, nothing much will change."