I don't think so, Neil Patrick Harris might be playing an equivalent role it seems like. The old storyline is done, this is now the present or near future or so it seems. Kind of alluding to "you don't need super tactical Agents, you can just give them a pill and a nice Chardonn... er.. cellphone and distract people into oblivion."
The progression of phone technology will be striking. By 1999 or 2003 standards the phones in the movies were cutting-edge chic. How would they do that to a future awash in branded touchscreen smartphones, I wonder.
"Take this if you want to live" Christina Ricci says as she hands Morpheus Jr. a holographic PinePhine running Arch and a neural uplink transceiver, tossing what looks like a earbuds case on the ground as it shimmers and transforms into a hoverbike speeder (branded PORSCHE for the requisite product placement just like in the first film). They speed off in search of Johnny Silverhands.
