5 for '05: the biggest wireless trend in 2005.(Cover Story)

Around this time last year, various wireless pundits predicted that 2004 would be the year 3G broke. And, on the whole, they were right-provided you define "3G" carefully enough.

Yes, technically, we've had IMT-2000 since, well, 2000 thanks to CDMA 1x. But with CDMA users of any generation comprising less than 20% of the global mobile market, many analysts felt it was GSM's transition to W-CDMA that would mark the real beginning of the 3G age.

That transition is now in full swing. Granted, it doesn't look like much just now--most WCDMA launches are small-scal