These phones do everything but tie your shoes

Tie your shoes, who needs to bother, I'm still in my pajamas

These phones do everything but tie your shoes

It’s a seductive image: One device that can be used as a phone, navigator, computer, camera, video player and mobile music library.

“Part MP3 player. Part phone. Totally sweet,” a voice in the television ad purrs.

Welcome to the increasingly ambitious world of mobile phone competition, where industry executives — unsure of what you will pay for — hope to win you over by adding more functions to cellular mobile phones.

With more than 72 percent of Americans already using mobile phones, the industry must introduce new functions to keep consumers buying new models and spending more money on applications such as text messaging, Web browsing and video games.

The first mobile battleground is over music. About 70 percent of wireless dealers and retailers say new MP3 phones, such as the Verizon Chocolate introduced this summer, will replace stand-alone music devices such as the enormously popular Apple iPod series.

Apple does not appear to be sitting on the sidelines. CFO Peter Oppenheimer has breathed fresh life into an old rumor of a potential iPhone.

The makers of smart-phones such as Palm Treo and the BlackBerry warn that no one phone can do everything well.

As the mobile industry debates what functions and designs work best, consumers should win with a plethora of choices. More...