Now I realize that mobile music is and will likely continue to be all the rage. But could we not begin to look at technology for something a little more impressive? You know, perhaps a way to make dropped calls a thing of the past?

The hot topic among mobile phone executives gathered here for a cellphone trade show is the push to transform handsets into portable music players. By next year, phone makers expect to market several phones that will allow people to store and listen to songs and even download them wirelessly over cellular networks.

Industry leaders said they were gearing up for a major marketing pitch in 2006 to sell consumers on the idea that music is a must-have phone feature, just like cameras and Web connections.

At the three-day trade show, which ended on Thursday, the potential success of the new iTunes-compatible phone, the Rokr E1, recently introduced by Motorola and Cingular Wireless, was the subject of much speculation. [Read the rest]