Ah… do you remember when there were “two-party phone lines” or when a melodious-voiced operator would ring your phone and say, “Please hold, there is a long distance call for you”?

Well, those halcyon days are over, and the entire world of communications, as you well know if you are over 45 years old, is on a kind of “rocket to the stars” where your voice, through instant messaging (IM), Twitter® or email, seems to careen wickedly fast through the star-studded universe to arrive at an intended destination. All of this occurs now without the use of a cordless or mobile phone, or even a computer. Welcome to the world of mobile messaging.

The constantly evolving universe of mobile messaging now has, and will in the future have, a significant impact on litigation in the area of mobile electronic discovery (“e-discovery”). We have indeed reached a new frontier. Software programs such as the feature-rich Windows Mobile and Microsoft® Office Mobile applications help deliver a desktop-like experience to small devices. Powerful processors, cheap availability of large amounts of random access memory (RAM), and memory storage to prevent data loss make the mobile device a robust business tool.

To read the full article, go to Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal.