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IT'S A HIGH-TECH ENTERtainment world, and we're all just paying rent. How much rent you are willing to pay determines how and when you can demand to be amused.
You choose whether you want to sit back and relax or get it on the go which seems to be the mode of choice these days. The gaming, Internet, shopping or television-viewing experience on the run is becoming more comparable to the experience customers have in the comfort of their living room or office space.
"Convenience," said Ted Wagnon, a statewide spokesman or SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio. "That's the name of the game right now. People want all of the modern entertainment and communication conveniences they're used to, but they want to be able to get it wherever they are and whenever they need it."
There are already hundreds of services in place that make cell phones a one-stop device for wireless Internet access, games, weather updates, dating services, music providers, cinema schedules and previews, television networks, and for the shooting and viewing of photos and videos. These services, according to those in the business, have the potential to produce a boom comparable to that of the initial Internet frenzy 10 years ago.
"There's a lot of possibilities out there to make money, so long as the technology is indeed what people want," said Jason Lafon, a veteran cellular phone representative at a Little Rock retail chain store. "The Internet is a very accessible thing that people were able to catch on to quickly and almost naturally integrate its many uses into their daily lives. A 'super-cell phone' might be viewed as a little excessive to ordiary people and faces more challenges than the Internet initially did."
Even traditional television and home movie viewing is at the starting gate of a revolution, helped along by a number of services that offer viewers a chance to watch whatever they want whenever they want and at any pace.
Meanwhile, the movie industry, which has taken a hit from download piracy, is caught in the crosshairs of the movement. It's is on the verge of having to come up with a new way to handle the distribution of new features and the rental of older ones.
"Basically...