Future Tech: Faster Cell-Phone Data

Even as third-generation wireless technologies finally take root in the United States, telecom bigwigs are planning the mobile phone standard's next major upgrade. Dubbed Super 3G, the proposed spec promises data transfer speeds ten times faster than today's 3G services can deliver. Currently under hush-hush development by a consortium of Cingular, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Siemens, and others, Super 3G could accelerate demand for high-speed video, interactive gaming, and the like. The initial development is expected to be completed in 2007; the target deployment date is 2009. Given the original 3G spec's infamous delays, anyone who took 2015 in the office pool is looking pretty good.