France extended the phone company a credit line of 9 billion euros, enabling it to avoid bankruptcy.
In the meantime, said Mr. Howat of Verizon, newer, more sophisticated cellphones can increase the chances of getting a good connection; so will extending the phone's antenna.
"Extending the phone to use as a scanner in the retail world — especially gift registry, wish lists — you're going to see a lot more of this year," Mr. Taylor said.
Seth Amgot, a spokesman for Oxfam, the British charity with extensive operations in the poor countries of the world, said: "The Internet is going to have to wait until the electricity grid is extended, the phone grid is extended and more kids learn to read.
But the modular concept introduces more possibilities for extending the phone's functionality — and for making the smartphone itself a more mutable tool in hardware as well as software terms.
Delays and glitches in the introduction of "third generation" digital services have clouded hopes for new income streams to pay down debt and extend the mobile phone boom into a new century.
More complex additions extend the capabilities of the phone by adding new sensors into the mix (like, for example, the Thermodo thermometer).
Opposite each is a description of one of the many popular applications that extend the use of the phone, from twitter to facebook, flickr, tumblr, skype, pixiv, deviantart, and much more.
