This past summer, Sprint Nextel said it would spend $1 billion next year and up to $2 billion in 2008 to deploy a nation-wide WiMAX network in the U.S. The company bets that not only laptop computers, but also phones, video cameras, and hand-held game machines will incorporate WiMAX as a standard feature, beginning in 2008. The day may soon arrive when nearly every digital device will be an Internet portal. The attendees at the WiMAX World Conference at the Boston World Trade Center are justified in believing that the Sprint Nextel plan has galvanized the emerging WiMAX industry. "The marketplace has clearly taken a direction with the Sprint Nextel announcement," says Mark Slater, vice president of marketing for Nokia. "The marketplace seems to be forming for real."