The Internet and the media are currently agog with the possibilities of delivering increasing volumes of content over cell phones -- movies, TV, music -- and about the investment this will take by the wireless companies.

But the the WSJ (subscription required) yesterday reported on a survey of 1,001 cell phone users that found:

More than three-quarters of the people surveyed said they aren't interested in watching TV programs or movies on a portable device, and 69% said they don't see themselves listening to music on their cellphones. . . . The . . . result echoes that of an online survey last year [that found] that . . . among more than 5,000 adults surveyed, only 1% said a digital-music player was a must-have feature for cellphones. More desirable, they said, would be longer battery life, a built-in camera and high-speed data access.

So, while the incumbents are building bigger bells and whistles, over at the Wi-Max Forum, they are talking about mobile Wi-Max with VoIP, an application that could offer plain vanilla service at a cut rate.

Clayton Christenson is the management guru who popularized the concept of "distruptive innovation" -- incumbent enterprises often spend their energy adding features to satisfy their best customers, only to lose out to entrants who provide a simpler and cheaper service that is good enough for the many who do not want to pay for all the add-ons.

He may soon have material for another chapter in The Innovator's Dilemma.