tag = "Address"

For years, mobile network operators have invested billions of dollars in networks, subsidized phones and targeted marketing campaigns. Yet they have neglected one of the most used applications on the mobile phone: the address book.

Recent events such as the launch of the INQ1 phone by 3, the acquisition of Zyb by Vodafone and the acquisition Cellity by Nokia, seem to prove that operators are finally beginning to appreciate the importance of the address book. The boring address book is about to be rebooted with social address book services.

One of the biggest features of the highly-anticipated Palm Pre is the contact and calendar management system called "Synergy." With this new functionality, your Facebook, Google, AIM, and/or Microsoft Exchange contact data is merged together, de-duped, and made available to you within your phone's contacts.

While it's great to see a mobile device include out-of-box functionality for contact import from webmail and social networking sites, there's still a major problem with this type of syncing: no filters. You see, most people don't want their entire contact list from any online resource dumped into their phone. The reason is simple - we just don't phone all our online friends.