What do trading stocks, purchasing video games and contacting advertisers have in common? They're all activities currently making their way to wireless platforms. Just as yesteryear's Filofax has been forsaken for today's PDAs and Web-enabled phones, so too are businesses shifting their focus from desktop PCs to wireless devices.

Take Hip Interactive Corp., for example. The Toronto-based provider of PC and video games has announced a new partnership with Bell Mobility. Hip's Interactive Media division will provide a PC and video games content service to Bell Mobility customers. The company's content site, Gamesmania, will be featured on Bell Mobility's mobile browser on dot-com enabled digital PCS phones. Through Gamesmania, users are able to access Hip's e-commerce site, Microplay.com, where they can buy PC and video games online. So too can customers access PC and video gaming news, reviews, previews, cheats and codes along with exclusive interviews and editorials.

E*Trade Group Inc. has added Research In Motion Ltd.'s RIM Wireless Handhelds to its list of Web-enabled devices through which customers can access the company's online financial services. E*Trade is the first and only online financial services company to offer an integrated wireless brokerage and banking service across all three major platforms - browser-enabled phones, Palm OS PDAs and now RIM Wireless Handhelds. RIM consumers can now access real-time quotes, news and market updates, or access their securities, brokerage and bank accounts.

ewireless Canada Corp. has also launched a new service that links consumers, free of charge, directly to advertisers. Prompted by a radio or outdoor ad, wireless phone users can now simply dial No. 333 to respond to advertisements from companies and service providers including ADT Security Services Canada Inc., American Express, Charles Schwab Canada and General Motors Canada. The process is simple. Advertisers simply prompt mobile consumers to dial No. 333 on their wireless phones and the consumer, having dialed the number, is connected to a live operator who then transfers the call directly to that advertiser free of charge.

Still, despite such easy-to-access services, experts say that mobile applications can lead to greater frustration than convenience. According to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, one in four owners of mobile devices stops using m-commerce applications after the first few attempts. Be that as it may, eighty-two percent of current and potential users think that the mobile device will become their personal travel assistant within the next three years. Eighty-one percent also foresee using these devices as part of their daily routine - for sending e-mails, getting news and information, and shopping. And more than half (61 percent) expect these devices to become universal payment tools.