I've often marvelled at the huge differences between mobile use in Asia, Europe and the US. It's one of the most interesting technological divides out there, which in fact shows a lot more about how cultures are different (since the technology is actually broadly similar).
That subject is tackled today in a piece in the Wall Street Journal - unfortunately it's subscription only. But here's an excerpt:
Asia's cellphone edge is cultural, not technological. The Philippines, a nation of insatiable text-message senders, uses cellphone technology that is behind that of the US. And cellphones have become such important status symbols that at Chinese funeral rites, relatives burn paper cellphone effigies so the dead will have their mobile phones in the afterlife.
The article gets on to talking about mobile-specific advertising, including a stat that will make marketers salivate - "Cellphone campaigns, on average, generate about 10 times more response than the internet web viewed on personal computers".
But here in Europe - where we have an SMS culture, but not quite the insane penetration of Japan - it's interesting to watch how the American and Asian mobile users perceive each other.
