The test rig achieved a data rate of 70Mbit/sec without shouting down the neighbours Wifi-style and with no chance of frying brains. The speed is constrained by the drivers and the USB interface, not the wireless module, said Artimi product marketing manager Dennis Laudick. It will get quicker when the software is tweaked and the hardware can sit on a fast bus.

UWB developers at the conference were adamant that despite the comments from the handset vendors, some manufacturers are already planning mobiles using the technology. But when you consider that there are few UWB devices to talk to (none on general sale in the UK), and that the Bluetooth spec embracing UWB won't be ready until next year, it is hardly surprising that some will be holding off.

More surprising was the lack of emphasis on battery consumption, and the assumption that people in the future will be using mobile devices in much the same way as they do now.

Motorola's John Barr said he believed Wifi would provide the throughput mobile phone users will need in practice, and he was happy to sacrifice speed to save power. Sony Ericsson's Patric Lind said the main use of Wifi on mobile phone is VoIP, which does not require speed.

But UWB is both frugal and fast, giving the best of both worlds - though its power efficiency is still being tweaked. Glynn Roberts, vice president of the WiMedia Alliance governing UWB, said it should reach one milliwatt per megabit per second by 2009.

The issue is not simply one of battery drain. Radiation from mobile phones and Wifi is becoming an issue, whether the fears are justified or not, but none of the manufacturers mentioned the fact.

Some delegates talked of the iPhone changing the world but there seemed to be a general assumption among the vendors that the smart phone, with its tiny screen and bursting at the seams with features, will stay as it is. We have remarked before that devices like Asus's Eee ultra-mobile, which is about to become available here, could have more impact that the iPhone in the long run.

They are affordable, they are a general-purpose platform in a sensible format for work or pleasure on the move, and they are going to get thinner and lighter and more powerful. They are almost certain to evolve, in parallel with Origami-style tablets, into the next-generation platform for computing and they are going to need fast frugal links like UWB. Where smart phones, made by Apple or not, will fit in that scenario is anyone's guess. But I'd say the most likely place is a museum.