Globalization, Giddens seems to say, is all about giving every villager in the Andes a Nokia Internet-enabled mobile phone.

After I completed a short registration form on Cellfire (the service works on most Internet-enabled phones), the service scanned its database for deals near me.

Snaptu (pronounced "snap tu") was a free mobile application platform that ran on virtually every type of Internet-enabled mobile phone.

They have quickly become a route for telephone conversations, too, with Internet-enabled phones taking root in cubicles and executive suites.

For many people, checking Web sites acts as a conversation stopper that is bound to worsen with the proliferation of Internet-enabled phones and hand-held computers.

This is somewhat similar to Nokia's strategy of using MeeGo on smartphones and Symbian for less expensive mass-market Internet-enabled phones.

The company's i-mode service set off a boom in Internet-enabled phones, and DoCoMo controls almost 60 percent of Japan's cellular phone market.

More than most network devices, Internet-enabled phones need a lot of users to reach their potential.

Worse, DoCoMo's older i-mode Internet-enabled phones have received only a lukewarm reception in Europe.

Three years after its i-mode Internet-enabled phones took the telecommunications industry by storm, DoCoMo is looking more and more like an ordinary company.