When Europe’s mobile operators were caught up in the frenzy to outbid each other in the 3G licence auctions four years ago, the common joke was that the three G’s in 3G meant games, gambling and girls (i.e. adult entertainment). It is three years since the first 3G network went live in Japan, and with 45 commercial network launches in 29 countries and more than 15m users of 3G services on five continents, what are some of the new 3G applications?

One should keep in mind that all previous mobile services are available on 3G networks. Our addiction to SMS text messaging will live further on 3G phones, and we can download ringtones, pay for road use charges, purchase movie tickets, pay for parking, pay for public transportation, send picture messages and consume news on a 3G phone just as we do on our current GSM/Wap/GPRS phones.