This problem is neither trivial nor far-fetched. Apple itself found this out the hard way at the , when Steve Jobs had to ask the audience to turn off their Wi-Fi devices because the company's demo devices couldn't cope with the hundreds of networks present.

From a more practical perspective, we can expect the real problems associated with mobile hotspot usage to come from the source of all problems related to the mobile market: the carriers. It's difficult to imagine that the implications of introducing this new capability in the iPhone will escape their attention; as a result, we can expect that, much as they have with tethering, the carriers will demand control over when and how the feature will be enabled and ensure that users pay for the privilege accordingly. They may even block it altogether if they feel that it will eat too much into their revenue streams--obviously, there's more money to be made from having consumers pay separately for each device they want to connect to the Internet. "

Until the time when Apple decides to extend hotspots to all iPhone users, of course, its effects on the mobile industry are just speculation--albeit speculation based on plenty of historical precedent.

The good news for all iPhone users is that current Apple mobile handsets already have all the hardware capabilities they require to become a mobile hotspot. In fact, owners of iPhone models all the way back to the original version introduced by Apple in 2007 can take advantage of this functionality using a --as long as they're willing to jailbreak their phone.