the durty version

As if the CDMA world needs more embarrassing news. For those that have never really understood the dynamics of the mobile world, and why certain companies like AT&T and T-Mobile continue to get phones that make us Verizon Wireless customers say , "Oooooh. I want one", here is the skinny.

Majority of the world works on GSM technology which affords a removable SIM card, and most noticeably works on a different frequency than the GSM counterparts. With this, the device manufactures look at the bottom line and make a logical decision.

The world, Billions of people. Verizon Wireless and Sprint (CDMA mobile communications providers), a couple of million. Why would they go out of their way to manufacture phones just to appease us Americans that refuse to step up and use GSM technology. It is just not really beneficial to any device manufacturer. If you are still scratching your head and wondering why there are any manufacturers that still make CDMA phones, well it is because in the past and still currently Verizon Wireless and Sprint have the purchasing power to buy exclusive rights and distribution rights from the likes of LG, Samsung, Motorola, and sometimes RIM. This is one of the main reasons why you will always see a phone come at a GSM provider before coming over to the CDMA world. Making a phone for the GSM world also servers a a great testing bed to see if the phone will be a success or failure, before they commit further to make changes at the manufacturing facility to appease CDMA networks.

You are probably still wondering why there haven’t been any efforts to make a hybrid CDMA/GSM chip. There have been. Broadcom has made a few and I believe Intel has also made a few patents to make such radios. Qualcomm an Asian manufacturer is combating legal actions taken forth by the United States Patent offices based on the breach of American patents, so the lack of competition has most certainly slowed the research and development.

Ultimately we should see CDMA move over to GSM, but that is for decades to come. Verizon Wireless is a big player in the mobile market game in the United States, and they are heavily invested in CDMA and could not afford to move all of their towers and technology over to GSM.

What may really shock you is the super rad phones that happen to be GSM that are offered in Europe and Asia, but not in the USA. You are probably wondering why this happens if there is GSM technology here in the USA. Well, AT&T and T-Mobile are cash hungry companies that limit your cell phones functionality so they can reap financial benefits. In America, we pay the most for cell phone service than any other individual subscriber almost across the globe. Mobile phone manufacturers often don’t want to put additional efforts into R&D to make a phone ultra compatible when they can just sell lots more globally. It all relates to finances and how many times you have to reconfigure your designs in order to work with another companies demands.

Touring Europe and Asia, I saw some features on mobile phones that blew my socks off. How about using your cell phone to pay for stuff at a store. It works on some embedded wireless chip that is associated with your bank account. In Asia, mostly Korea and Japan, television on your mobile phones, Internet access faster than what you have at home, and all for less than what you are currently paying now.

Another reason why mobile phones in the USA suck as well as their service, is the result of jumping on the mobile phone bandwagon first, investing heavily in older technology, and living in a country that is so damn big.