"Since April it has been possible for the customers of any of the major United States cellular carriers to send one another short text messages, but most customers still have no idea the service exists," reports the New York Times today (free registration required).
It's the kind of story guaranteed to make us mobile-savvy Euro chuckle with delight. We, of course, have been swapping SMS messages by their millions for years now. And it's a neat reversal of the more normal flow of technology, which goes from west to east (just like the weather).
What the story doesn't say is that, while the US appears amazingly backward in mobile comms for now, they will catch up very quickly. Indeed, thanks to Europe's 3G auction madness of recent years, the States could well overtake Europe with 3G in the next few years. Already, 3G services are running in major US cities including San Francisco and New York. Here in the UK, we're still looking for 3G to get beyond a trial on the tiny Isle of Man, and operators' visions are getting narrower with every passing month.
