Adopting a common standard for mobile phones across countries unleashed an explosion of wireless technology that gives them a head start in that promising arena. In Norway, you can use a mobile phone to pay for movie tickets. In Sweden, you'll soon be able to feed a parking meter by touching a few keys on your handset. The Japanese, meanwhile, have different priorities when it comes to technology. Unlike Americans, they don't give a hoot about megahertz and gigabytes.
Kids carry cell phones with antennae that flash bright blue when a call arrives.
Some girls sport fingernail attachments that do the same thing. Many Americans think that's goofy. Exxon Mobil Corp. We should all be so goofy.