Giants such as Nokia and Motorola have been steadily building up their in-house research groups to increase their research activities in nanotechnology, and they are also staying on top of nanotech developments coming out of academic researchers and start-up companies.

Executives at Nokia observe that advances in technology are driven by a demand to make mobile phones thinner, smaller, and with multi-functionality. In the near term, the big mobile phone companies believe that new nanoscale coatings and materials will make thin phones stronger and more durable.

In order to maximize the potential of nanoscale technologies for mobile devices, however, two challenges need to be overcome by industry: increasing the memory size of devices so that they can hold photos, music, and video, and finding a way to power these complex devices.