The mobile evolution The next generation of mobile phone services will be a huge success. Not an overnight success - much as the world's debt-burdened operators would like that - but a success, eventually, on the scale of television, the personal computer or the internet. Read Countdown to 3G Preparing for lift-off Third generation mobile telephony promises a vast array of new services. To fulfil that promise, the mobile operators still have work to do The technology The high-tech highway 3G Systems operate at a waveband that is being cleared of existing traffic, to give operators room to expand services The players Feeling the squeeze Europe is the current leader in mobile telephony. But with the move to 3G, the US and Asia are closing in m-commerce The mobile consumer The first wave of web-enabled mobile telephony has not lived up to its billing. But current uses provide a glimpse of what may be possible in the future-and offer a guide to the pitfalls