New technology slow to hit U.S. shores

Filed in archive Business Trends on April 16, 2007

I summarized an article from Variety below because some of you are interested in newer technologies.

A cell phone with an HD screen that tricks your brain into thinking it's watching a 48-inch letterbox plasma tv. Cell phones with rollout screens. A broadcast network devoted entirely to mobile programming.

These technologies and others have already hit the streets, or will soon, in Europe and Asia. But in America, they may as well be science fiction... The U.S. continues to lag in implementing new cellular and digital technologies. And while there are signs that gap may be closing, it's done little to shed the impression that this is a nation of Luddites.

The reasons for this technological jet lag are both cultural and practical.

For one, emerging markets that have no ingrained infrastructure in place (and fewer compatibility issues between companies) ...

There is one glaring technological bright spot for the U.S.: hi-def. Voom HD Networks general manager Greg Moyer observes that U.S. prominence in hi-def is a direct result of national policy.

I include a picture of this gizmo that looks interesting. It belongs to Dutch company Polymer Vision who unveiled the Readius in 2005, but cell phones with rollout screens have eluded the U.S. market to date.