Cell phones use in aircraft - A short-term reality?

For a couple of years, with the mass proliferation of the Portable Electronic Devices (PED), a lot of people are talking about the "soon to come" use of personal cell phones in the aircraft. Is this "soon to come" a short-term reality? The paper provides an overview of the types of cell phones, how they work, and what kind of threat they represent when used inside an aircraft. It also provides a view over the legal issues and the certification concerns. Finally, it tries to answer the title question and presents a possible solution to make cell phone use acceptable and certifiable in an airborne environment.