The biggest news from the recent CTIA Wireless 2007 show: After years of mostly talking about mobile applications and content, the industry is finally acting. And, lo and behold, Microsoft is positioned to cash in.

Mobile handsets became more than just phones several years ago with the success of simple applications such as text messaging, picture messaging and mobile games. Up next are handsets with music players that can download songs; mobile phones with network-assisted GPS navigation and local search; and handsets with biometric sensors and near field communications that offer a secure alternative to credit cards.

Ironically, most mobile handsets still use esoteric real-time operating systems (RTOS) such as Mentor Graphics’ Nucleus and ENEA’s OSE. These RTOSs were designed for small footprint devices, optimized for reliable phone operation and served the mobile industry well for many years.

Smart phones, a small but growing percentage of the burgeoning handset market, use high-level operating systems (HLOS), such as Symbian OS, Linux and Windows Mobile. HLOSs enable handsets to run more sophisticated user applications. They also provide better development tools, and support interoperation with desktop computers and the Web.

A big push to standardize mobile phone operating systems has begun. Standardization is desperately needed as feature-rich handset models are introduced at an ever-faster clip. Handset operating system standardization will enable more phones to run the same applications; reduce application development time and cost; and streamline handset testing and management for mobile operators.

Best of all, handset operating system standardization will attract more talented software developers. With approximately 2.5 billion mobile phones in use today, new models featuring more processing speed and memory, and 3G networks rolling out all over the world, there is a significant opportunity for software developers.

The race is on to extend HLOSs beyond expensive smart phones and into mid-tier handsets. Symbian OS’s advantage is that it was specifically developed for mobile devices. Though Symbian is the leading smart phone OS supplier, Nokia owns close to 50% of the firm, and some doubt Symbian can remain independent.