Microsoft and Google's products also benefit from working on platforms apart from their own Windows Phone and Android-based systems.

BBC: Blackberry introduces free wi-fi calls on BBM chat tool

Hu set off for downtown Beijing, working the phone and e-mailing from the back seat of a car, directing her staff to rent a satellite phone and get a crew to Sichuan.

NEWYORKER: The Forbidden Zone

It was the second night when the Piersons received a phone call from an apartment manager working over four miles away from their home.

FORBES: How Facebook Helped Find a Lost Dog

But the mobile-phone market is still working its way back from a serious downturn.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The phone is answered promptly and courteously by a virtual assistant working from her home in Manchester, England.

FORBES: Why Your Virtual Assistant Still Needs To Be A Team Player

Hewlett-Packard is said to have killed the Slate, which was to be based on Microsoft's Windows, and is now reportedly working on a tablet using an operating system from Palm, the smart-phone maker that HP recently bought.

ECONOMIST: The iPad is a success, but other tablets may not be

Police said they obtained phone records from the Amos home for the hours when Hall was working there.

CNN: Honors student leaves doctor's office, disappears

And although such a phone is at least a decade away from actually becoming reality, those working on the project believe it is far more than just a pipe dream.

FORBES: Magazine Article