(FORTUNE Small Business) – The last time I was impressed by handheld computing was when I picked up Mattel Electronics' LED football game in 1978. Since then, pretty much every developer has focused its efforts on adapting traditional PC applications for use on a tiny handheld--which has tended to shrink the apps' utility. But as the products debuting at the recent DEMOmobile show in La Jolla, Calif., proved, mobile computing is about to go from the boring "mini-PC" phase into the more interesting "build a business" phase. Here's my best of show.

How much would you pay for wireless e-mail access? You could start at $200 and go up from there--or how about $8 a month? Thought so. RIM's BlackBerry (option A) costs at least $200 for the device, plus service charges starting at $20 a month, and if you need more management or security, servers start at $1,000. So Remo, from San Jose startup Xpherix, is a welcome sight: Its $7.99-a-month plan lets any cellphone access up to seven e-mail accounts (including from a Microsoft Exchange server), plus a calendar and contacts. As for replies, Remo lets users set 50 personalized, canned responses (e.g., "Thanks!"). Verizon and BellSouth are among the carriers introducing Remo in November.

E-mail is for everyone, but the most illuminating new mobile apps promise to help specific industries make their employees in the field more productive. The eight million construction workers in the U.S. are by definition mobile, and FieldRanger, based in Portland, Ore., has a service for handhelds that lets contractors send work orders to a job site. Those who have used it estimate that it saves them an hour a day in wasted time driving back and forth to the office to pick up paper--quickly paying for its $75 fee per user per month.

For consumer packaged-goods companies, Eleven Technology (founded in Cambridge, Mass., by the same two guys who started beverage company Nantucket Nectars) impressed me with its Smart Selling System. Field reps using the software via phone, PocketPC, or Symbol device can far more effectively juggle their schedules, manage product demand from retailers, keep up to date on inventory, and be trained on the latest sales initiatives. Though the product was designed for Procter & Gamble and Pepsi, Eleven is customizing it for $50 million to $200 million businesses, which in many ways are in greater need of the efficiencies the system provides. And any business relying on paper forms (like doctors' offices) can appreciate the promise offered by Pen&Internet, a Sunnyvale, Calif., startup. Its riteForm Remote service lets you fill out an e-form longhand; that information is automatically converted to text, eliminating reentry woes and the errors they create. Looks as if handhelds have finally scored another touchdown.