It's no secret that mobile phone service in the US isn't as ubiquitous, US phones aren't as stylish, and the whole mobile system just doesn't work as well as in Europe, Asia, and most of the rest of the world (with the possible exception of Africa). Even our proudest mobile phone technologies often don't live up to the most basic standards of service expected in the ROW.
Case in point: The Droid. Now here's a beautiful phone just launched by one of the country's most accomplished technology companies, Motorola, using Google's innovative software, and sold for use on the largest US mobile network, Verizon Wireless. But guess what? The Droid won't work on non-US networks! Or, in the sophisticated technical jargon of Verizon Wireless, the Droid is not a "world phone." Which begs a point: What planet does Verizon Wireless inhabit, anyway?
More than five years ago, when I lived in the UK, if I had gone shopping for a new mobile phone at any store, for use on any network, I would have had a hard time finding a phone that did NOT have "triband" capability, meaning that it would work on virtually any phone system in the world, including the antiquated US CDMA One and CDMA2000 systems.
But here in the US, half a decade later, we still tout our proudest mobile phone accomplishments to ourselves alone. How utterly parochial and narrow-minded. Hey, we're Americans. We don't need no stinkin' world.