Apple may throw everyone a curve ball here. Imagine an Apple tablet about the size of a 11-in. spiral notebook with an iPhone-like touch screen. How about the ability for the machine to recognize voice commands and dictation of text? A built-in video camera and maybe a mini-projector for meetings would be nice. And if the reports of Apple's discussion to land print media content in the iTunes store are true, how about an easy-on-the-eyes display for reading electronic magazines and books?

A more fundamental question is whether Apple's tablet will more closely resemble an iPhone or a Mac. It will be fascinating to see how whatever emerges straddles those two worlds.

We use PCs and laptops to get things done when we're stationary; we use mobile devices to stay informed and complete small tasks when we're out and about. This device, it seems, will either have to incorporate both paradigms or have to create one of its own.

Bets? There will be a product from Apple reasonably described as a tablet, and Apple will reveal it during the first quarter of 2010. That's not going too far out on a limb. As the iPhone enters its third year, Apple needs something new to sell to keep delighting its customers, inspiring envy among its competitors, and increasing its sales.

Check your expectations about this product at the door, though. We're probably all in for a very big surprise.

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Google's approach would run counter to the current practices of handset makers and carriers that partner up in exclusive deals to market and sell phones, and provide mobile service. AT&T, for instance, has been the sole provider of service for Apple's iPhone since the device was launched in 2007. Sprint tied up with Palm for its Pre smart phone earlier this year, and Verizon exclusively runs several versions of Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

Mobile phones such as the BlackBerry Tour 9630 in black with a price tag of $149.99 on a 2 year Verizon agreement, or the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in black for just $169.99 with a 2 year AT&T agreement. There’s the Samsung Instinct S30 in cobalt metal for just $19.99 with a 2 year Sprint PCS agreement, the HTC Hero in grey for just $69.99 with a new 2 year Sprint PCS agreement, or how about the Motorola CLIQ in titanium for a price that is so low, Best Buy won’t even show it.

Other free handsets include the LG Neon in blue on a 2 year AT&T contract and the LG Rumor 2 in black titanium with a new 2 year Sprint agreement. Whatever mobile handset you are looking for hit up Best Buy and check them out for a great Cyber Monday bargain.

They're scanning barcodes with their cell phone cameras to load into price comparison Internet sites while standing in store aisles, using GPS to find discounts at nearby stores and flashing electronic coupons straight from their phones.

Briana Carter, 31, recently spied a $40 pink laptop cooling pad at a Kohl's department store. She scanned its bar code with her iPhone and using an application called ShopSavvy found the same thing for $25 at online retailer Amazon.com.

While still inside Kohl's, Carter, of Tipton, Ind., bought the pad from Amazon through her phone.

Shoppers definitely have discounts on the brain. Unique visits to the top 10 coupon and rewards sites rose 6 percent from October to November to 70.4 million, Nielsen Co. research said.

Merchants, already struggling with weak sales and a mediocre holiday season in this tough economy, are forced to play along, said David Bassuk, a managing director in the retail practice at consultancy AlixPartners.

Macy's Inc., The Gap Inc., and many others are paying a growing list of sites to list deals online.

A few years ago, the Web site savings.com listed coupons for about 1,000 retailers; that's up to 4,000 now.

"The retailers are very, very hungry right now, so the consumer is in the driver seat," Bassuk said.

Sales to people who click through the savings.com site are expected to double to $200 million this year from last.

"Would they rather have every consumer come directly to them and pay full price? Of course, but the reality is it doesn't happen that way," said savings.com CEO Loren Bendele.

Currently, about 18 percent of cell phones are smart phones; they're on track to be the majority in the U.S. by 2011, Nielsen says.

Waiting for them are hundreds of applications made by third-party companies to root out discounts and coupons. Many of the apps are free.

_ CouponSherpa uses a shopper's location to find coupons for nearby stores. No printer needed: just show the coupon at checkout.

_ ShopSavvy scans bar codes with a phone's camera to check prices online.

_ Pricegrabber.com's new iPhone application lets shoppers compare prices and buy from Web sites anywhere.

Kelly Norby, 30, of Vernon Hills, Ill., goes online and uses her phone to save on everything from groceries to holiday gifts. If she's in the grocery store and spies an item she doesn't have a coupon for, she whips out her phone to check coupontom.com.

"I'm sort of giddy about it," she said of her deals. "It's like you've won something."

With these tools in consumers' hands, it's hard for retailers to get anyone to pay full price.

"Are you giving away discounts for people who would otherwise have bought it from you anyway? That's the challenge," said Praveen Kopalle, a business professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

"And when the phone rings, you just reach up and push the button to answer the phone," he said, showing the feature clipped to his car visor.

These are questions the Best Buy mobile manager has been hounded with lately, with most Oregonians waiting until the last minute.

"In the last week or so, oh, gosh we've sold so many I've lost count," Omar Bowles said.

His best sellers?

"The hands-free that mount in the car seem to be the most popular."

Bluetooths are more in demand over at Fred Meyer, according to electronics manager Jessica Cook. But mother of two Krystily Vonderheit prefers the third option, the earphone attachment.

"I actually like it a lot more because I can hear better and I don't have to hold something so I can still drive."

Cost is a main factor in consumer's final pick. Car kits can be almost $100 more than the other two options, but Bowles said you're paying for better sound quality.

But that cost, plus just the idea of going hands-free, has brought in some unhappy people.

"We have quite a few people who are frustarated because they don't want to have something stuck in their ear."

Flurries began to hit Long Island at around 11:30 on Saturday, but it didn't start snowing in Manhattan until after 1:00. So far, "it's just a dusting," said John Guiney a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's regional office. "The major accumulations will begin in the early evening, with the heaviest snowfall overnight," which he said was a good thing for retailers.

Mr. Guiney expects portions of Long Island to see anywhere from 12 to 24 inches of snow by Sunday afternoon. In New York City, snowfall will be 10 to 16 inches, but the snowfall should end by early Sunday morning.

In addition to the broader human and economic threat such an event always poses, the storm could deter shoppers and hurt retailers eager to ring up sales on a critical weekend. "Super Saturday," the last Saturday before Christmas, is typically one of the biggest shopping days of the year, with an estimated $15 billion changing hands, according to weather consultancy Planalytics. The Northeast accounts for at least a quarter of those sales.

This year, the highly anticipated weekend is expected to be even more crucial to the retail industry. Shoppers procrastinated longer than ever in hopes of seeing the radical markdowns of last year. But retailers headed into the weekend feeling relatively positive, as they had planned inventories more conservatively this year, reducing the need to resort to sharp discounts to move excess inventory. Retail analysts had expected sales industrywide to be relatively flat this holiday but profits to climb on increasing margins.

If shoppers stay home, that prediction is in danger. Some sales may move to retailers' Web sites, but the e-commerce season had been expected to taper off after Friday, the last day of free-shipping deals.

Retailers head into the home stretch hoping the storm leaves pent-up demand that will give them one last gift.

A snowstorm the Saturday before Christmas, often the busiest shopping day of the year, is about as bad as it gets for retailers, said Marshal Cohen, chief retail industry analyst at market researcher NPD Group. But there's still time and consumers are ready when they dig out of the storm.

"They'll hit the stores with a little more of a method to their madness, so all is not lost," Cohen said.

"Super Saturday" usually accounts for $15 billion worth of sales nationwide, according to Scott Bernhardt of weather research firm Planalytics. Stores missed that number this year, but Bernhardt still wasn't sure by how much.

Retailers were still totaling the impact of the snowstorm Sunday. The first figures for the weekend are due from ShopperTrak on Tuesday.

Bernhardt said it's not yet clear how many stores closed, though many did around the Washington, D.C., region, which got more than 25 inches of snow, and in New Jersey. Chains with a large share of their stores in areas affected by bad weather include Bon-Ton Stores, Dick's Sporting Goods and Christopher & Banks, he said.

Mall operator Taubman Centers closed four of its 24 centers early Saturday, including Fair Oaks in Fairfax, Va., and The Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, N.J. Both stores reported an uptick in traffic Sunday and by the afternoon, the Fairfax mall was as busy as a normal Sunday before Christmas, the company said.

The storm that stretched from the Carolinas to New England caused about one-third of Toys R Us stores to cut hours, but sales were relatively strong because people got out to shop before the storm hit, CEO Jerry Storch said. Online sales also rose.

He said retailers had been expecting a big shopping burst this week but with the storm, it will be even more frenzied, so the toy store chain is increasing staffing.

"There's always that feeling 'Oh I could just do it tomorrow' when Christmas is at the end of the week," he said of shoppers. "Now you add in this storm."

Traffic was heavy and the parking lots close to full at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y., Saturday afternoon as blowing snow started to snarl roads. The weather prompted shoppers to get out to stores before the storm hit.

"We went out early, and we're going home early," said Mike Kimball of Queens.

Shoppers who stayed home shopped online. Retail Web traffic peaked at 2.9 million visitors per minute Saturday night, according to the Akamai Retail Net Usage Index. That was up from 1.9 million on the Saturday before Christmas in 2008, though that day -- Dec. 20 -- was closer to Christmas than this year.

Laura Gurski, a partner in the retail practice of management consultant A.T. Kearney, said more retailers will offer shipping deals to spur sales.

"I think they're going to have to, particularly those that were not able to drive the volume they needed to because of the weather," she said.

Online spending has been a bright spot. It grew 14.4 percent after Black Friday through Dec. 12, according to a release Sunday from MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which estimates sales in all payment forms, including cash and checks.

Outside the Northeast, store traffic was up at malls owned by General Growth Properties Inc., and should stay heightened through Thursday, said Wally Brewster, senior vice president for marketing and communications. The company, which has more than 220 malls, figures about half of its shoppers are last-minute ones, up 10 percent from last year.

Wil Snodgrass was hoping for deals of 75 percent off, rather than the 50 percent sales he was seeing Saturday at Woodfield Mall in suburban Chicago.

"They had everything we were looking for, just not at the right prices," said Snodgrass, 49. "Normally, if there hadn't been a Christmas deadline, we would have waited until it went further off."

Hundreds of shoppers who braved the snow in New York City to visit the flagship Macy's store at Herald Square were evacuated Sunday afternoon due to an escalator fire. Fire officials said no injuries had been reported.

If you're going to use your mobile for e-mail or organizational tasks, go with a higher-range model or even a smart phone. Alternatively, if you'd like entertainment options on your handset, consider a camera phone or a device with a digital music player, 3G, streaming video and even live TV

Though design and features are very important when buying a cell phone, performance is the most critical point to consider. Remember, a cell phone is only as good as the calls it makes, so even the most feature-rich and design-centric handset is worthless if it can't offer decent call quality. And while the strength of a carrier's network is critical to making good calls, the strength of the phone's antenna and receiver play a big part in performance as well.

Determining call quality will take some work on your part. Editorial reviews are helpful, but call quality is ultimately subjective and will vary sharply--even for the same kind of phone--according to the user's geographic location, the numbers of callers using a carrier's network at a given time, and even atmospheric interference. You can start by asking your friends and see what they recommend. Also, ask to test their phone for yourself. When shopping in a carrier store, ask to make a test call with any handsets that perk your interest. If they don't have working display phones, ask a sales rep to use one. When evaluating call quality listen for the clarity of the voices and the volume level. Check to see if the phone picks up any static or interference and ask you callers how you sound to them. Remember, you can always test a phone during the grace period and exchange it if necessary.

If you're looking for a good camera phone or multimedia handset, you should also consider how those features will perform. Every camera phone will vary in photo quality and some music phone will be better than others. Performance also will fluctuate among 3G phones that play streaming video. If possible, evaluate these features before buying.

Each form factor has its unique characteristics, so you'll want to think carefully about which is best for you. For example, flip phones are useful if you frequently store your mobile in a pocket when on the go since the shape prevents accidental dialing. Also, since they cradle your head naturally, flip phones can be more comfortable for some users. On the other hand, candy bar-style phones can be sturdier. Lastly, slider models can provide the best of both worlds, and many people just find the sliding action appealing. When making your decision, be sure to hold the mobile in your hand and next to your ear to see how comfortable it is to hold in your hand.

Now it's time to think about more specific design concerns. When evaluating a new phone you should first examine the size and placement of the buttons and controls and the size of the text on the display. Make sure that the controls are big enough and that you can understand how to use them. Though thin phones are very popular they usually have keypads that are flat with the surface of the phone, which can be difficult to use. If you're considering a phone with a full alphabetic keyboard, you should test that as well.

Secondly, look at the display and see if you can read the text without straining. If you have a flip phone, an external screen is a must so you won't have to open the phone to see your caller's identity. Thanks in part to the iPhone, touch screens have also grown in popularity. Like with tactile buttons, touch screens can vary in their usability so you give a phone a thorough test drive before buying. Though touch screens provide a nice "wow" factor, they can entail a learning curve for many users.

Finally, remember that you'll want to enjoy using your phone and carrying it around. So go for a menu interface that's attractive and easy to use, and pick a color and shape you won't mind holding in your hand. And since some handsets are more rugged than others, find something that fits your activity level.

Ultimately though, you should base your decision on which carrier offers the best reception in your area. Because evaluating wireless coverage requires experience with the network in a wide variety of physical locations,Of the U.S. carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM while Sprint, Verizon, and smaller carriers such as such as MetroPCS and U.S. Cellular use CDMA. Though Nextel is part of Sprint, Nextel-branded phones use a third technology called iDEN, or Integrated Digital Enhanced Network.

CDMA coverage is very strong in the United States, particularly in rural areas, but GSM service has a larger global footprint (it's the standard in Europe, for example) and GSM phones use the convenient SIM cards, which you allow you to, among other things, switch phones more easily. Also, when taken on a global scale, GSM users will find a wider selection of handsets.

With that in mind, if you travel overseas frequently or you enjoy switching out your phone often for the newest model available, then GSM is the better choice. Not all GSM phones will work overseas, however, so be sure to read CNET's Quick guide to world phones. But if you'll be making calls mostly in the United States, then CDMA is an equally good option. What's more, some CDMA phones now also support GSM networks for international use.

The Kyocera Wireless Music Gateway is a simple black box that's able to transmit music from your cell phone to your
home stereo.

Then there are the oddball Bluetooth accessories that don't really have a category of their own. One is the Kyocera Wireless Music Gateway, which is able to transmit music from your cell phone to your home stereo system. Another that we tried out recently is the Intellitouch XLink BT Gateway that lets you use your cell phone number with a regular landline phone.

What's more, an increasing number of headsets fit directly into the ear rather than just resting against it. As a result, they don't need to be worn with ear loops or other equipment. Keep in mind, though, that some users may not like the feeling of a headset's earpiece resting in their ear canals. It's important to check a few styles to see what is most comfortable for you.

A more recent Bluetooth headset design innovation has been the inclusion of LED screens. The BlueAnt Wireless V12 LCD Bluetooth headset and the Nokia BH-902 both feature a tiny little display for caller ID. You can't see the display when the headset is on your ear, but it can provide useful information when you're not wearing it and you receive a call.

Stereo Bluetooth headsets generally look and feel a lot like wired music headphones. There are quite a few earbud-style stereo headsets that come with a pendant-style controller for taking and placing calls or interacting with the phone's music player. Examples include the Plantronics Pulsar 260 and the Jabra BT3030 Bluetooth headset, both of which earned high marks for comfort and sound quality.

We tend to be fans of behind-the-neck headphones because of high comfort and sound quality. Examples include the Samsung SBH-170 and the Motorola S9, either of which would be ideal to wear during sports activities such as working out in a gym or a vigorous run. There aren't too many stereo Bluetooth headsets in the traditional earpad style these days, though we did like the Plantronics Pulsar 590A.

A few Bluetooth headsets combine several different functionalities into one design. The Plantronics Discovery 855 is both a mono and stereo Bluetooth headset; simply attach a secondary earpiece to the main mono headset and you immediately get stereo sound. The Kyocera Wireless Bluetooth headset with Speakerphone comes with--you guessed it--a little portable Bluetooth speakerphone.

Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) - AVRCP provides a standard interface to control TVs, hi-fi equipment, and so forth. This profile is used to allow a single remote control (or other device) to control all the AV equipment to which a user has access. AVRCP defines how to control characteristics of streaming media. This includes pausing, stopping, and starting playback and volume control as well as other types of remote control operations. Some Sony Ericsson phones have this profile built in. An example of one is the Sony Ericsson K790a.

Dial-up Networking Profile (DUN) - DUN enables access to the Internet and other dial-up services over Bluetooth wireless technology. The most common scenario is surfing the Web from a laptop by dialing up via a mobile phone, wirelessly.

Hands-Free Profile (HFP) - HFP lets you use a gateway device to place and receive calls for a hand-free device. A typical configuration is in an automobile using a mobile phone as a gateway device. In the car, the stereo is used for the phone's audio and a microphone is installed in the car for sending outgoing audio of the conversation. HFP is also used for a personal computer to act as a speakerphone for a mobile phone in a home or office environment.

Synchronization Profile (SYNC) - The SYNC profile is used in conjunction with GOEP (Generic Object Exchange Profile) to enable synchronization of calendar and address information (personal information manager items) between Bluetooth-enabled devices. A common application of this profile is the exchange of data between a PDA and computer.

Object Exchange (OBEX) Protocol - OBEX is a transfer protocol that defines data objects and a communication protocol that two devices can use to exchange those objects. For Bluetooth enabled devices, only connection-oriented OBEX is supported.

SIM Access Profile (SAP) - SAP allows devices such as car phones with built-in GSM transceivers to connect to a SIM card in a Bluetooth-enabled phone. Therefore, the car phone itself does not require a separate SIM card.

Though Bluetooth itself may be easy to understand, choosing a Bluetooth headset for your phone isn't so simple. The number of Bluetooth headsets continues to grow rapidly. Styles, features, performance, and compatibility vary, so it's important to take the time to find a device that's right for you.

Most Bluetooth headsets have basic call features like the ability to answer and reject calls, last number redial, and so forth. Since sound quality is a priority with headsets, more advanced headsets like the Aliph Jawbone 2 and the Griffin SmartTalk also feature dual-microphone noise cancellation for better sound quality. Another up-and-coming feature is multipoint technology, which lets you connect up to two different devices at the same time. This is useful if you use one headset with two phones, for example. Headsets with multipoint technology include the Callpod Dragon V2 and the BlueAnt V1. And speaking of innovative features, the BlueAnt V1 was also the first Bluetooth headset to offer full voice command control. This meant we could say things like "Call Home" and if you've programmed the headset to do so, it'll do just that. The voice command on the V1 is independent from your phone, so you can use it even with phones that don't offer voice dialing, like the iPhone for example. There has also been information about headsets that actually use bone conduction to transmit your voice, so as to eliminate background sound altogether, but we haven't seen one for ourselves yet.

There are multiple versions of Bluetooth, and not all Bluetooth specifications are the same, so you might want to make sure your two chosen devices will work with each other. All of the newer Bluetooth versions are backward-compatible, however, so as long as you're using the more basic Bluetooth features, you won't have much to worry about. Most products currently work on Bluetooth version 1.1, which offers such basic features as voice dialing, call mute, and last-number redial. In 2003, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, a body that oversees the technology's development, released version 1.2 and rolled out version 2.0 a year later. Bluetooth 1.2 introduced new features to eliminate radio frequency interference through frequency hopping and added greater security to protect against snooping and tracking. Bluetooth 2.0 brought higher connection speeds (as much as three times faster, in some cases), improved performance, and less power consumption. The SIG recently introduced version 2.1, which aims to improve pairing without the need for a PIN, requires even lower power consumption, and offers more security. Check out the various profiles and their features in the chart below.