Another year, another 400 million new mobile phone users. That's more than the population of western Europe. By the end of 2006 there were 2.7 billion mobile phone subscriptions globally. And the market will continue to grow by between 350 million and 400 million subscriptions per year for the foreseeable future.

Those of us that have lived through the transition of the mobile phone from rich-man's accessory to an essential appendage to modern life have become a tad blasé about the mobile phone phenomenon. We've got too caught up in the disappointment over 3G and stagnating ARPU levels to appreciate the impact that the mobile phone is having on our lives in all corners of the globe. But in the last 12 to 18 months, businesses adjacent to and circling the mobile businesses have latched onto the opportunities and threats that mobile phones present.

2006 was the year when the penny dropped for other digital industries. The mobile phone is the most ubiquitous, the most personal and the most 'cherished' device that people own. The mobile data - or mobile content - business has been slow to take off but this should not be confused with the deepening relationship that we have with our mobile phone. We may not be buying as many games, full track downloads or multimedia messages as operators would like but we are spending a huge amount of time sending and reading text messages, making phone calls and organising our lives using the phone's address book, clock, alarm and calendar functions.

More importantly - as far as the digital content industries are concerned - multimedia phones now have the technical and brand capabilities to be viewed as fully-fledged MP3 and mobile video players and digital cameras. Handset manufacturers have also made huge strides in terms of usability.

The list of companies targeting the mobile phone reads like a who's who of the modern digital age - Google, Yahoo!, Apple, Microsoft, MySpace, Time Warner, Disney, Universal, EMI and Sony are just some of the big names. But in reality this list barely scratches the surface. Anyone who is anyone in the digital entertainment, e-commerce or IT sector understands that they need to develop a mobile strategy.

Wherever you look there is evidence of the growing influence of the mobile phone and of other industries trying to muscle in on mobile.

Over the last one to two years the PDA sector has almost completely collapsed. PDA users are now proud owners of a Treo, a Nokia E-Series or a Motorola Q.

Nokia's nGage gaming console may have sunk without a trace but gaming industry executives are in no doubt about the role of mobile phones in mobile gaming. David Gosen, CEO of mobile entertainment publisher I-play, reckons that mobile gaming will eventually overtake traditional console play.

And with Apple's announcement of the iPhone, the mobile phone is set to dominate the MP3 device space.

In 2006 the TV industry started to take a serious interest in mobile TV. It is no coincidence that mobile advertising - a concept which has been thrown around the mobile industry for several years - only really came of age in 2006 when the TV industry threw its weight behind mobile.

But here's the rub

Devices may have multiple applications capabilities but how much use do we - as consumers - make of these applications.

Is my mobile phone my primary MP3 player? Do I take my holiday snaps on my camera or my camera phone? How many videos will I ever watch on my mobile? And will I ever find time to watch mobile TV? The evidence to date is that we use the applications embedded on our mobile phone much less than we use dedicated single-application devices.

Does this matter? Are device manufacturers and mobile operators comfortable with the idea of the mobile phone as a secondary device - our back-up camera, MP3 or gaming player?

And if we do make use of one or more of these smart phone applications, what happens when we upgrade our phone? Given that we are only ever likely to use the different applications on our phone during the duration of our subscription are we going to take the trouble to use them much at all in the first place? Or to look at it another way, what's the point of putting a Carl Zeiss lens in a phone that's going to be stuck inside a bedside drawer in 12 months time?

Such is the momentum behind the evolution of the humble mobile phone into a multi-application device we have barely had time to pause for thought about how and when we make use of the different applications. There was a time when operators confidently expected applications to generate additional airtime and content revenues for them. But increasingly it is the case that operators need to sell these devices because if they don't, their competitors will and they'll lose market share.

As for the TV, gaming or music publishers, producers or content owners, they are only in the mobile game as a way of finding new channels and markets for their content. If they are all competing for attention on the same device - a 'secondary' device with a one-to-two-year lifespan - they will struggle to it generate usage to justify the cost of the hardware and software that supports their particular application.

The mobile phone has changed the way we live our lives but it is much too early to gauge its impact on - and relevance to - digital industries. The mobile phone has changed telephony but there's a long way to go before it has the same impact on games, television or music.

Another year, another 400 million new mobile phone users. That's more than the population of western Europe. By the end of 2006 there were 2.7 billion mobile phone subscriptions globally. And the market will continue to grow by between 350 million and 400 million subscriptions per year for the foreseeable future.

Those of us that have lived through the transition of the mobile phone from rich-man's accessory to an essential appendage to modern life have become a tad blasé about the mobile phone phenomenon. We've got too caught up in the disappointment over 3G and stagnating ARPU levels to appreciate the impact that the mobile phone is having on our lives in all corners of the globe. But in the last 12 to 18 months, businesses adjacent to and circling the mobile businesses have latched onto the opportunities and threats that mobile phones present.

2006 was the year when the penny dropped for other digital industries. The mobile phone is the most ubiquitous, the most personal and the most 'cherished' device that people own. The mobile data - or mobile content - business has been slow to take off but this should not be confused with the deepening relationship that we have with our mobile phone. We may not be buying as many games, full track downloads or multimedia messages as operators would like but we are spending a huge amount of time sending and reading text messages, making phone calls and organising our lives using the phone's address book, clock, alarm and calendar functions.

More importantly - as far as the digital content industries are concerned - multimedia phones now have the technical and brand capabilities to be viewed as fully-fledged MP3 and mobile video players and digital cameras. Handset manufacturers have also made huge strides in terms of usability.

The list of companies targeting the mobile phone reads like a who's who of the modern digital age - Google, Yahoo!, Apple, Microsoft, MySpace, Time Warner, Disney, Universal, EMI and Sony are just some of the big names. But in reality this list barely scratches the surface. Anyone who is anyone in the digital entertainment, e-commerce or IT sector understands that they need to develop a mobile strategy.

Wherever you look there is evidence of the growing influence of the mobile phone and of other industries trying to muscle in on mobile.

Over the last one to two years the PDA sector has almost completely collapsed. PDA users are now proud owners of a Treo, a Nokia E-Series or a Motorola Q.

Nokia's nGage gaming console may have sunk without a trace but gaming industry executives are in no doubt about the role of mobile phones in mobile gaming. David Gosen, CEO of mobile entertainment publisher I-play, reckons that mobile gaming will eventually overtake traditional console play.

And with Apple's announcement of the iPhone, the mobile phone is set to dominate the MP3 device space.

In 2006 the TV industry started to take a serious interest in mobile TV. It is no coincidence that mobile advertising - a concept which has been thrown around the mobile industry for several years - only really came of age in 2006 when the TV industry threw its weight behind mobile.

But here's the rub

Devices may have multiple applications capabilities but how much use do we - as consumers - make of these applications.

Is my mobile phone my primary MP3 player? Do I take my holiday snaps on my camera or my camera phone? How many videos will I ever watch on my mobile? And will I ever find time to watch mobile TV? The evidence to date is that we use the applications embedded on our mobile phone much less than we use dedicated single-application devices.

Does this matter? Are device manufacturers and mobile operators comfortable with the idea of the mobile phone as a secondary device - our back-up camera, MP3 or gaming player?

And if we do make use of one or more of these smart phone applications, what happens when we upgrade our phone? Given that we are only ever likely to use the different applications on our phone during the duration of our subscription are we going to take the trouble to use them much at all in the first place? Or to look at it another way, what's the point of putting a Carl Zeiss lens in a phone that's going to be stuck inside a bedside drawer in 12 months time?

Such is the momentum behind the evolution of the humble mobile phone into a multi-application device we have barely had time to pause for thought about how and when we make use of the different applications. There was a time when operators confidently expected applications to generate additional airtime and content revenues for them. But increasingly it is the case that operators need to sell these devices because if they don't, their competitors will and they'll lose market share.

As for the TV, gaming or music publishers, producers or content owners, they are only in the mobile game as a way of finding new channels and markets for their content. If they are all competing for attention on the same device - a 'secondary' device with a one-to-two-year lifespan - they will struggle to it generate usage to justify the cost of the hardware and software that supports their particular application.

The mobile phone has changed the way we live our lives but it is much too early to gauge its impact on - and relevance to - digital industries. The mobile phone has changed telephony but there's a long way to go before it has the same impact on games, television or music.