The wireless scene is not only years ahead, but racing ahead, full bore. The world may never catch up. In the US, where an ongoing standards war has yet to fully play out, cellular services remain balkanized. In Japan, meanwhile, more than 7 million people already access the Web via tiny mobile devices. Hundreds of sites here cater to the small screen, and magazine stands are packed with the TV Guide wannabes of this young medium.
Japan is the test bed for the world's wireless future.
The gadget-crazy Japanese are themselves part of the reason for this. Nowhere else are device manufacturers as driven to miniaturize, innovate, and ply on the features by a consumption-minded public. The cell phone is quickly becoming as Japanese as the kimono. This is lifestyle. It's an aesthetic thing.