I wish that ringtones and wall paper was universal. It is frustrating to see something that you really like but can't use it because it isn't for your phone. >
That would have been possible if these graphics/wallpapers won't consume much memory, I think. It is really nice to have some of these designs and if you really want them, then you just have to buy a new phone, if it is worth it.
They are right, almost every month or weeks they are new phones coming out in the market and has much higher specifications. That's why some people cannot stay on one gadget because everytime there's new coming out, they want to avail it immediately to keep updated.
There are few software available which work on most of the well known brands and their models. You can even transfer your Desktop PC wallpapers to your mobile phone from these utilities.
Makers are already offering phones that play mp3's (including using them for ringtones) and store jpeg's (especially camera phones). I'd expect mp3 and jpeg to become the universal standard very soon.
They should be but I hope the mp3 issue will not be a hindrance to that effort. But even then as most of the latest mobiles have PC support one can always play around the formats and convert to supported formats from their PC and then transfer the file.
I think MP3s and wallpapers (just as long as they are of the same format) are still usable in all colored phones. The only downloadables that aren't universal are the themes and some games I think.