MP3 Phones

The US Cell Phone industry is more than a little ridiculous. I talk to people here in England about the cell services we have in America, and they can’t believe how behind we are.

The most surprising step backwards is the phone technology. My guess, backed up by this Wired article, is that the major US carriers are dragging their feet on music technology until they can find a way to monetize it themselves. As a consequence, the US market has yet to see phones capable of carrying 1GB of photos, video, and music.

In America, consumers are also stuck paying for incoming calls and text messages. Over here, that’s unthinkable. Why would you pay for incoming calls? Of course, they don’t have free refils over here, so everyone has their faults.

But basically, in the US, you pay more and get less for your phone service. It’s a product of the giant providers sitting on technology until they can monetize it at the consumers expense. It also lets them sell phones in the states that are so hopelessly outdated abroad that people can’t believe you’d pay for them. So they get to sell their phones twice.

Something needs to crop up in the mobile industry. VoIP should hurry up. Cingular needs some competition.