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Ring Tones Will Save the Music Industry
tabdelgawad writes "Well, not quite, but according to Jay A. Samit, senior vice president for new media at music label EMI Group PLC, quoted in this Washington Post article, "This is huge. This is the largest growth area for music companies and our artists". The article goes on to prove two facts we already know: that the music industry is greedy (already asking for a bigger slice of this pie!) and that the porn industry is a prime innovator in marketing and technology :-)"
Free local? what? where I live I still can't get anything cheaper than $35, most of which is taxes... and cellular alternatives are MUCH cheaper
...long distance is probably more important to consumers than local, and as it turns out that's dirt cheap in the US too... thanks to competition.
Now about cell phones. It is different in the US because people live different:
In the US people move out early on, in Japan and most of Europe yound people have more economic hurdles to deal with and stay home longer... if you want to keep the parents out of the social life you want a cell phone.
Outside of the US people spend more time outside of their houses (and even less watching TV)... this translates to less land line usage and more cell phone usage. Outside of the US telecom is highly regulated/government run; except cellular, which is usually quite competitive... furthermore infastructure is quite a bit cheaper for wireless...
We are behind in the US because we don't care all that much about elegance or simplicity, bigger is better and the more the better, in other words we are mostly gluttons. Consider the cars we drive, the food we eat and how we dress.
A smaller phone is not very likely to be perceived as being better, here in the US. Put some beazzler jewels on them, and a "Polo" label on them and then they'll move.