LOS ANGELES -- Someting I could have added to today's story on mobile advertising, which looked at the opportunity to place ads on the phone to drive down the costs for users, are comments Jerry Panagrossi, Symbian's vice president of U.S. operation, made to me this morning.

Some background first: Symbian is a competitor to Microsoft Windows on the mobile phone. Like Microsoft, Symbian makes an operating system for the phone. It's mostly used by Nokia, making it the dominant operating system in the industry around the world.

Panagrossi, who was showing me the new Nokia E62 that Cingular Wireless will be offering for $150, said that in the future carriers won't be the only company in the supply chain that will subsidize the costs of the handset. Typically, U.S. carriers pay for part of the device's costs to encourage users to get higher-end gadgets. That's also why we are required to sign two-year service contracts.

He said there will be more options. Manufacturers will sell the devices to carriers for less if the makers are able to recoup some of the costs through fees for additional services. Also, big media companies might pre-load movies or other content on the device that would drive more revenues.

"Eventually services will come into play," he said. "I'm seeing creative things behind the scenes."

Perhaps that will even do away with the mandatory two-year contacts.