3GSM Review: Cannes anyone find a killer application?

February saw one of the biggest gatherings in the mobile and wireless calendar, the 3GSM show. In the first of two reviews, silicon.com telecoms editor Ben King wonders whether the industry is chasing unrealisable dreams.

There's a small stain on the carpet in the bar of the swish Martinez Hotel on the seafront in Cannes. It's rat blood - all that remains of a hungry rodent that made a brief bid for freedom before being bludgeoned to death by a waiter.

Other than the stain, and a general cut in party budgets, there wasn't much at Cannes that was really new or exciting. The Microsoft versus Nokia smart phone wars were a welcome distraction at a largely news free festival.

The handset vendors were there with their big 3G demo trucks, the usual array of small companies were there selling enhanced ringtone systems and picture messaging, but the only killer app on display was the one that flattened the rat.

It's an old question, but one that still needs answering: Where the hell are the applications? There's been a lot of money invested in 3G already, and there's more cash heading down the same hole. But there was nothing on offer that is really likely to get punters opening their wallets and spending money.

MMS, the system that lets a user send pictures and video to other MMS-enabled contacts, was widely touted as the killer app du jour. One person described it as a 'trillion dollar opportunity' but we cannot believe they were serious. Or sober.

Some people will definitely make money from MMS, probably pornographers, but will it repeat the success of SMS? Will it save the industry? Will it even take off before the end of 2003? Alas, we have to think not.

Behind the scenes, there where further whispers of retrenchment and delay - promises made but not acted upon, products announced but never launched, relationships between mobile operators and their suppliers on the point of collapse.

Still, there was some hope. Trium was demonstrating a couple of 3G handsets from Japan with live videoconferencing, which was actually rather cool, even though I won't be able to afford to use it when it comes out.

The instant messenger space is one to watch, too. Microsoft and others are trying to link up the millions of desktop instant messenger users with mobile phones. Bill Gates is no fool, and there's definitely gold in them thar hills. Link MMS with 100 million instant messenger users and even it might be worthwhile.