Going global for innovation

At this point, U.S. wireless consumers have become accustomed to reading about the great features and cool phones offered to cell phone customers in other countries. For a brief, shining moment this Summer, U.S. customers could hold their heads high, knowing that the iPhone was theirs and theirs alone. The "cool" factor helped a lot, to the point that most consumers could ignore the slower network support and locked nature of the new Apple phone. Now, though, things are back to normal with a Japanese carrier debuting a phone that looks great and has features that rival similar U.S. phones (including the iPhone). It's not that U.S. customers aren't getting any new phones--Verizon has four very capable new devices coming out this month, for example--it's just that we're going back to the old model of seeing the best phones and features in the overseas market first. This isn't a great business model in an industry that can see entire product categories come and go in mere months. U.S. carriers need to demand top-notch features then present them in a cost-effective manner. That strategy will keep customers happy for years to come. -Curtis