BUSAN, Korea – September 7, 2004: Samsung Electronics unveiled the first-ever mobile phone (model: SPH-V5400) with an internal hard disc drive. The company’s latest innovation, which also comes with a mega-pixel camera, is currently being exhibited at the ITU Telecom Asia 2004 from September 6 to 11 at the Busan Exhibition and Conference Center (BEXCO).

The V5400 is equipped with a 1-inch diagonal, 1.5GB hard disc drive that greatly expands the memory capacity of mobile phones from the conventional 100MB maximum capacity. In addition, the phone boasts a high-resolution (QVGA) 2.2-inch liquid crystal display and includes features, such as MP3 player, electronic book and Korean-English/English-Korean dictionaries. A powerful microphone enhances the camcorder function, while dual speakers provide a 3D sound effect.

That's the technical data and it sounds pretty cool. Now apply Moore's Law. It tells us that in 18 months that will be a 3 GB Hard Drive and 18 months later a 6 GB Hard Drive. Assuming that this is true - and it has been since Gordon Moore espoused this guideline - a full bandwidth feature length motion picture lands in your cell phone within three years. As a practical matter, it will happen sooner because the screen is smaller and there are less pixels to store. So, the latest date for consumers carrying a digitally distributed feature film on a 2-3 inch screen that is also their cell phone, MP3 player and PDA is September 2007. Put on your seatbelts ... this is going to be a wild ride.