(credit: TechFever Network)

The rapid evolution of the cell phone is destine to change our lives the way the Internet has since the public flood gates opened a decade ago.

So what imaginative applications are already doing this? Here’s the answer, according to a panel of industry designers at the Mobilize conference in San Francisco (pictured):

Jyri Engestrom, an entrepreneur at Google: In Finland, Finnair will send an SMS message when a plane is late and let passengers check in by SMS. People also pay for parking and the tram with SMS.

Jason Devitt, CEO of Skydeck: The Peak e-mail device is a single-purpose handheld for mobile e-mail. “I don’t know how successful they will be,” says Devitt, but the user experience is interesting.

Jeff Taylor, a director of global marketing at Hutchison Whampoa: the Loopt location-aware service finds friends and places, and is “grounded in the real world of normal behavior.”

Rachel Hinman, mobile design strategist at Adaptive Path: Twitter’s communication service extends from computer to cell phone and is “like a little present from a friend.”

By Mark Boslet, Editor at Large.