Ask anyone trying to come up with a wireless plan what it takes to make content palatable for the mobile Internet and opinions will vary. There's still a lot of uncertainty out there. And really, no one can predict what end-users will or won't find appealing if and when the mobile Web takes off.

Ultimately, some predict, success will depend largely on developers' ability to deliver content that end-users find useful and applicable to their everyday lives. It could be a joke-of-the-day, a horoscope, a scripture or a regional weather report.

AirMedia, a wireless Internet infrastructure company, is poised to launch a "wireless hub" that it claims will deliver a rich array of content to wireless devices. The New York-based provider says its hub knocks down the walls around wireless content, enabling developers of every ilk to sell content in a Web-based "e-marketplace." But first, AirMedia likely will have to dispel the perception that it merely is expanding the wireless world's version of the walled garden.

AirMedia plans to launch its wireless hub in the United States in early February and in Europe soon after. It claims developers will have access to thousands of content channels, broadcast bandwidth, connectivity to mobile operators worldwide, payment processing and advertising opportunities.

"Once a content marketer has established a selection of content they want, we effectively are hosting that portal and take care of delivery," says AirMedia CEO Mark Bregman, who joined the startup after more than a decade at IBM Corp., where he headed the company's UNIX operations, among other stints.

Bregman is confident that content providers, especially those trying to make the leap from the wired Web to the mobile Internet, will find the hub appealing. Marketers will decide for themselves how personalized content offerings will be.

ISPs still trying to fine-tune their wireless offerings and second- and third-tier wireless carriers that want to outsource development of wireless content are among AirMedia's initial targets. Many players are finding it challenging to break into wireless.

"It will be some time before it gets as homogenous as the [wired] Internet," Bregman says of the mobile Internet. "We take care of that complexity, whether it's on the technical or business side."