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First Large Scale 3G Network
Pete (big-pete) writes: "DoCoMo has announced that they will launch the world's first 3G network on October 1st -- you can read their story from NTT and a spin on the story from The Register can be read at the Register." And of course, The U.S.' backward laws concerning allocation of frequency mean that this will be a /long/ time in coming.
It seems to me that the biggest problem in the US is a lack of standards, and the fact that government doesn't mandate standards, leaving companies free to do whatever they want. Many /.ers probably dont realise that one of the reasons Europe has a kick ass cellular network is that GSM is a EU mandatated standard, which has made companies work together to ensure that cell phones work everywhere. The US seems to prefer the effects of 'monopolising standards', where nothing is compatable until one standard wins out and then becomes a monopoly because of its proprietory nature.
Is it just me, or is the US now falling behind in all fields, from bio-tech through freedom of expression to telecoms.
It's you. Read the paper for the last, oh, 50 years. Every few years (if not every few months), we have sky-is-falling stories that US is falling behind in this, messing up that, blah blah. And somehow, a few years later, we end up leading the industry.
It's called free market capitalism. Of course, whenever the US falls behind in a particular market, fools start crowing that "this proves that capitalism doesn't work! The government needs to step in and take control!". Of course, capitalist markets are self-correcting markets, and things fix themselves automatically. It's a beautiful thing.
Take biotech -- all Bush's decision means is that biotech companies can't go to the public trough. This is a good thing. It means that we will get much more private investment, which means the advances will come MUCH more rapidly. If the government is handing out money, then research has no incentive to make fast progress, only make enough progress to keep the government checks coming.
There is a reason that almost all medical and drug advances come from private medical and drug companies.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
First off, what does it matter if Japan or Europe beat us to the punch? Does this mean that their industry is necessarily ahead of ours? No. The gap here is not a technological one, it's one of implimentation and cost. Europe and Japan also have many economic factors in their favor, owing to their population density and population centers, often poor land lines, etc. How does this speak better of foreign nations?
Second, 3G shows many signs of being a failure overseas, already. By this I mean the European and Japanese 3G companies may well spend multiples more rolling out the technology (they've spent billions on the licenses alone) than they ever collect in revenues. What this says, in plain english, is that their own consumers did not feel the technology/implimentation is good enough to justify the cost. Why should we be jealous of this? If the costs exceed the benefits, it is hardly an accusation of US capitalism. No government is going to change this fact--all they might do is spread the costs out, by putting an increased tax burden on those that do NOT need it.
Third, even if 3G is a worthwhile technology, it's not necessarily worthwhile today. In other words, both US consumers and companies may be better served by waiting until better handsets come out. It would be premature and costly to introduce the technology 5 years before it is really worthwhile to consumers.
Fourth, from a more personal point of view, do YOU really need/want 3G today if it costs you 3x as much as normal cell phone service? Sure, high bandwidth on the road sounds great, but what can you REALLY do with it today? Between having crappy screens, lousy keyboards, no mouse, poor sound.... Just name an application that really makes it worthwhile for YOU? I mean streaming video sounds great, but other than the coolness/novelty factor, are you really going to want to bother with it? I don't think so.
Fifth, remember money NOT spent on 3G, is money spent somewhere else. It doesn't just go into a blackhole. This money may well be better spent on improving existing services, rolling out other technology, or what have you.
Lastly, capitalism is adaptive is nothing else. If Japan and Europe really experience a huge boon with 3G services, you can be sure that US industry will be beating down the doors to make it happen. At which point, new and improved 3G may well be attainable to US consumers, while not available in foreign nations.
I really don't see what is so special about other countries having more cell phones per capita than the US. I (along with many other), consider them annoying most of the time. Besides, in many of the countries you are talking about, a cell phone is cheaper than a land line, which isn't the case in the US yet. Some of the stuff you mentions is cool, but not everyone needs a cell phone. I barely use phones at all anymore, as a matter of fact.
I don't have any clue what causes people to think that these new technoliges are necessities. As of now they are nothing more than neat technologies right now. I don't see 3G being viable for sometime, so I really see no reason for us to be the first. Japan is almost always first with wireless technologies, because it is so popular there. I doubt very seriously many people in the US aside from some geeks would trade in their PCS phone for a more expensive 3G phone anytime soon, nor do I think they should. I don't think 3G will be popular here until we get real wireless webpads and PDAs. By then, im sure the FCC will figure out what they want to do about it...
Shit adds up at the bottom...
We don't - in the US I can go into Canada and call from my cell phone quite nicely - as well as from anywhere in the US (except for the odd location without any signal), all for one low rate. My coverage is about the same in terms of area as Europe - and I don't have to worry about roaming fees.
Personally, I doubt there is that big of a market for universal, global cell phone service. You can, after all, mimic that today with 2 phones - and if you want one number, ATT offers their Worldphone plan. If universla servcie was that important, Nokia/Samsung/Ericson et. al. would offer a multi-mode phone, similar to the tri-bands in the US today.
Cell phone use in the US took off as companies offered more airtime for the same price, and removed roaming fees. As was pointed out, in Europe, POTS is sometimes as expensive (especially with per minute charges)and/or hard to get as new service. Unless a carrier offers universal service as a no cost add-on (i.e. I only pay for minutes when I use them, not a fee to be able to call from anywhere wether I do or not), I'd guess most peopel would opt not to have the option - which means tehre si little incentive to build a network in the US design to allow universal access.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.