As the iPhone changes everyone's perception of a cellphone to a media-friendly device, Hollywood has to adapt. The carriers also have to adapt, since their grip on what people watch on their cellphones is beginning to loosen.

The New York Times puts it succinctly:

"For years, mobile phone carriers like AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint have closely controlled what cellphone users watch, when they watch it, and on what kind of screen they watch it - much the way the networks did with television before new technologies loosened their grip. Many in Hollywood and Silicon Valley hope the iPhone's multimedia features will make it easier for any mobile-crazed consumer to do the same things they do on the Web: watch their favorite television shows, download maps, send e-mail messages to friends and swap videos."

This idea will trickle down to other devices over time, as carriers and phone vendors slap their foreheads and say, "oh, that's how you design the interface." Never mind that for years now, many phones have been able to do practically everything the iPhone does. The difference is that the iPhone, if it's done right, will make these things simpler. In turn, more Hollywood studios will cater to the mobile market.

Hollywood Seeks Ways to Fit Its Content Into the Realm of the iPhone [NYT]