As far back as 1992 Homer accidentally predicted the trend for converged devices when he warned his inventor brother that "people are afraid of new things".

"You should have just taken an existing product and put a clock on it, " he said.

It may be slightly unfair to compare Apple's phone/iPod combination to a paperweight with a digital clock but there was wisdom in Homer's luddite rambling. The two-in-one trend is sweeping the consumer electronics and home entertainment industry. Witness the jump in Apple's share price when it announced full details of the iPhone last week and the corresponding decrease in the shares of Nokia, Samsung and other phone makers.

The market is betting that consumers will ditch their separate MP3 players and phones for a device that fulfills both functions. Apple's competitors, meanwhile, will argue that existing devices, such as SonyEricsson's Walkman range and Nokia's N-Series do just that.

Elsewhere Microsoft is hoping to continue its push to establish the Xbox as the ultimate home entertainment solution: It's part games console, part DVD player and part internet terminal opening up a world of music, video and entertainment through your humble TV. Yet Sony and Nintendo have their own competing products aiming at the same corner of the living room.

On the other hand, why invest in all that hardware when network operators such as Sky are forging ahead into broadband internet and offering their own all-in-one entertainment and internet solutions?

IRONICALLY convergence, which is supposed to make things easier for consumers by bundling previously separate products and services together, is throwing up a complex range of options.

If you plan on buying a mobile phone, DVD player, games console or even a cable TV subscription in the next 12 months be prepared to face some of the following difficult choices:

1. Which mobile? Steve Jobs described the iPhone as a "revolutionary and magical product". It looks fantastic, the touch screen is an interesting move and its range of features should establish it as a formidable competitor for the best high-end phones that Nokia, SonyEricsson et al have to offer. But "revolutionary" may be overstating the case. Is it a great leap beyond Nokia's NSeries or SonyEricsson's Walkman phones for music lovers? Does it compare with Palm's Treo or RIM's Blackberry range as a smartphone? Be warned, the iPhone is not the only game in town.

2. 3G or not 3G? 3 Ireland launches its X Series later this month, offering a range of mouth-watering mobile broadband services. Vodafone has its own beefed-up 3G offer and O2's is coming down the line later this year. But Irish Broadband's Wi-max could yet make it a dark horse in the mobile space. A wireless internet technology used by mobile operator Sprint in the US, Wi-max potentially offers a more compelling mobile internet service than 3G.

3. How should you console yourself? Nintendo and Microsoft duked it out over Christmas in the gaming market but Sony is about to weigh in with the powerful Playstation 3. All come with internet connections as standard and a range of video, music and other content on tap. But which is the best?

Michael Finucane of retailer Gamestop said the Xbox 360 or PS3 are the more powerful machines. PS3 also has the advantage of an in-built Blu-ray DVD player (see choice 8). Wii, the fastestselling console in history, has price on its side. It's also a more family-oriented machine than the other two and is surprisingly accessible to the non hardcore gamer, which may sway some Irish parents. "My mother is 79 and she played the Wii with our 7 year-old over Christmas, " said Finucane.

4. Who owns your living room?

The average computer hard drive is increasingly being filled with music files, digital photos and video and movie downloads. For those who would rather view and listen to that content on their television screen from the comfort of the living room couch help is now at hand. The new Apple TV, Slingmedia's SlingBox and even the games consoles mentioned above all have the capability to bring that online content to a television screen near you. All are pitching themselves as your new home entertainment gateway but surely there can be only one?

5. Where are all your friends? It got lost in Apple's iBuzz, but Disney launched a social network aimed at kids last week, complete with the Magic Kingdom's most popular characters, video and music downloads, chat, games and a heap of parental controls.

At present Bebo and MySpace own this market but Disney knows a thing or two about selling its wares to young people.

This is no Mickey Mouse product offering.

6. Should you pay for Of"ce 2007? Microsoft's new Vista operating system is all set for its consumer launch later this month, alongside the latest version of Office. The latest versions of Word, Excel and Outlook are streets ahead of their forebears but are they worth the money? Google has a compelling suite of office tools, including a spreadsheet and online calendar, all available for free online. Perhaps Microsoft's home office solution is no longer the must-have it once was.

7. Will you "nd your answers on Yahoo or Google? Yahoo has been busy overhauling its services in a Herculean effort to close the gap on Google as the world's search engine of choice.

The prize is billions of euros in advertising revenue. Google paid big money for video site Youtube to bolster its user base and add to its offerings for advertisers. This year, however, the battle moves to mobile phones. Which will be the mobile search engine of choice to decide pub arguments? You decide.

8. Is 'Citizen Kane' better on Blu Ray or HD DVD? Apparently DVD isn't the ultimate experience in home cinema that we were led to believe. As DVD replaced VHS so, the studios and equipment manufacturers claim, the new formats will replace the DVD.

Unfortunately there's two of them and, as was the case with VHS and Betamax back in the day, chances are one of them will fall by the wayside. Thankfully some clever manufacturers, including LG, are launching machines which will play both. But that won't save you having to go out and re-buy your favourite movies all over again to replace the soon-to-be obsolete DVD format. What a scam.

9. Cable, Satellite or Freeview?

Over 45 million households across Europe will have to switch over to digital TV over the next four years as the EU begins its phase-out of analogue television broadcasting. But what's the best choice to receive your digital content? In the Irish market Sky, NTL and Magnet are currently the main players but get set for a rash of competing offerings coming at you everywhere from Eircom, BT and others as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) gets off the ground in Ireland. In the background, meanwhile, the government is undertaking a digital television trial which could see a free-to-air offering comparable to Britain's Freeview system.

10. Legal, illegal or advertisersubsidised content? iTunes may have passed the landmark point of two billion sales but legal downloads are still just the tip of the online iceberg. Illegal music and video downloads still dwarf legal services and file-sharing services are still the first port of call for many.

But is there a third way? This year will see the launch of several subscriptionbased download services offering content for free and paid for by on-site advertising with the blessing of record companies and film studios. Look out for Spiralfrog's European debut later this year and keep an eye on Warner Brothers' tie-up with Bittorrent. 2007 could be the year "free content" ceases to be a synonym for "illegal content".