LOS ANGELES -- Trip Hawkins, the chief executive of mobile social networking company Digital Chocolate, compared the wireless industry to Starbucks.

He said think about the situation as Starbucks vs. McDonald's. If you go to McDonald's, you want to get your food fast and pay as little as you can.

If you go to Starbucks, you spend a little more time, they know your name, and you have a personalized beverage.

Hawkins said mobile has to achieve that level of personalization, where people want to keep coming back and spend more time with it.

"People do hang out at Starbucks," he said.

It's interesting Hawkins used that analogy. Comparing Starbucks and McDonald's was the subject of an interesting piece by Melissa Allison on our staff this past Sunday.