Telecommunications will expand into every aspect of life,

2005-2007

Security will be a large issue as people start paying for goods and services from their mobile. By 2005 phones could have a technology on board called Biometric, Biometrics works by recognising physical traits unique to each individual such as fingerprints, voice or even retinal (eye) measurements. If your features don't match, you cant use the phone. Accenture European are currently testing a pay as you go service that lets you pay via voice recognition rather than tapping in annoying long scratch off numbers.

Other ventures include a phone that tells people where you are at all times to the nearest metre. Benefon  already have a phone on the market that offers a Global Positioning System (GPS) Technology. This may not prove too popular with the underworld! By 2006 all mobile devices will have GPS built in as standard. In Benefon's current model, users can allow a list of chosen people to be able to track them down via a web site displaying a map of the surrounding area.

GPS works by continuously emitting a signal, which bounces off buildings and other objects before reaching the cell base. This way, an electronic map of the area can be made up from the gathered information. This will prove invaluable, not only for the emergency and rescue services, but for the Find My Nearest services too. This new technology is also being tested in other objects such as badges. With these badges, bosses can detect the movement of all the staff in the building whilst wearing the badge.

Getting lost or taking a wrong turn could soon be a thing of the past with this technology, interactive step by step maps for every step of any journey can be planned out and easily followed via a mobile phone. Lost and stolen phones will be able to be tracked down to the nearest foot.

By 2006, charging up a mobile phone will be out like the dinosaur. With new credit card sized pieces of plastic and platinum mould, battery life could last up to 6 months, then simply take it out and replace it. This radical new Micro fuel cell is being designed for laptops, other major portable devices and even some indoor items such as hoovers. Other new tests include a service where you can point your device at a product in a shop and all the information of the item will appear on your screen for you to view. Then you can simply pay on the device and go. Or you could then search the web and see if it is available cheaper elsewhere.

With Radio Frequency Identification (RFI) anything can be a sales person. If you walk past someone who has a jacket on that you like, you could ask your phone to read the RFID code on the tag and find out where it is available and how much it costs. Better still, the person who is wearing the jacket with the RFID tag could earn a commission for allowing their jacket to have been read in such a way.

At one research center, Barbie has had open heart surgery and has been implanted with tags, she is now intelligent enough to browse a web site and buy clothes online that match the ones already in her wardrobe. This exercise is not to bankrupt parents of kids with such dolls but to help in many different ways. If you have tags placed around the house and your roof got damaged during a storm, your tag would tell the phone to call a repair man and pay for it, without you even having to know about it. Saving time and money by browsing around for the best deal.

2008

The technology used in making airbags inflate on impact will be used to make phones and other devices smaller, so much smaller that they can be fitted into other objects, including clothing and jewellery. The key to this innovation is in micro-electro-mechanical systems, (MEMS) technology. MEMS are a  tiny processor (smaller than a speck of dust) which reacts to external conditions such as pressure, speed, temperature and light. MEMS crystals could ultimately replace the current quartz crystals that mobile phones use to pick up transmission signals, taking up a fraction of the space. Accenture is working with MEMS technology to create objects that responded intelligently to use. This way companies don't have to charge per service or product, but by the number of times that it is used. You could turn your phone on, by talking to it or receiving a call saving power.

2009

By this age, the world will be split into two types of people, those who are connected and those who are not.

Firstly, the personal area network will will use Bluetooth technology to connect us to devices and objects in our immediate surroundings. Then you will have the local area network, which will use 802.11b or WiFi technology to link users with networks established within local areas like coffee shops or airports. Then there will be a wide area network, or mobile network provider by the operator.

The advantage of being continuously connected is that your phone will never go out of signal range. New services may include the (find a friend) application, where you tap in the details of a long lost friend and your phone will tell you if you are close to them. Ideal for an old holiday romance you go back for 5 years on.

Shoppers will be able to walk past a check out point with a phone in order to pay for goods, this saves time and money for all. The idea of all this is for a better standard of life in years to come. People will be able to check the record of a cab driver before getting into his cab. Or check the ID of the Gas man before you let him into your home. Junk phone mail will be the major drawback of all this technology, and you will not be able to hide away any longer, unless you are not connected!