Open source calls the tune for phones

An Irish company, 3G Doctor, is employing the until now redundant camera on the front of 3G phones to provide remote medical consultations, especially in country areas. A hospital in Da Nang City, Vietnam, has developed software to transform a mobile phone into a database of treatments and medical knowledge that can be looked at in an emergency. These are but two recent examples of the continuing astonishing advance of the mobile phone.

And it is showing no sign of stopping, despite being the fastest-growing consumer product in history. According to Portio Research, during the period 2007 to 2012, the mobile subscriber base is expected to grow by another 1.8 billion, mainly in emerging economies such as China and India but also in the US, which is expected to add 65 million more subscribers.