Laserdiscs

When Laserdisc player production finally spun down a month or so ago, it wasn't much of an occasion. I mean, aside from inspiring a little grade-school nostalgia and upsetting a hobbyist or three, the event wasn't materially notable. For us, that is. It turns out that Laserdiscs were much more popular in Japan than America during their heyday—about 500% more popular.

Why? The Japanese success of the Laserdisc (or Videodisc, as they were marketed there) comes down to the two things: money and anime. From launch, Laserdisc prices were lower in Japan than in most other markets, which accelerated adoption. Anime fans appreciated the format's improved fidelity, which drove sales at the time and eventually led to the still-active secondhand LD market. Laserdisc players, though no longer produced, are still available in the shops of Akihabara and elsewhere. At a Best Buy in Akron? Not so much.

Nokia Phones

When Nokia does something interesting, we take notice. Otherwise, in the US the company exists in an awkward netherworld of ultra-high name recognition and almost infinitesimal relevance. To most Americans, Nokia looks like a budget-phone maker. To most of the rest of the world, they're the undisputed king of cellphonery, and not just in name—they're by far the largest manufacturer of handsets on the planet. They literally dwarf their competition, selling double the volume of their nearest competitor, Samsung.

By the numbers: Nokia moved 113 million mobile devices in the last quarter alone, their entry-level 1100 handset has sold over 200m units, and at one point the N95, a precocious, clunky do-it-all handset topped the mobile phone sales charts in the UK. Where does the US stand in all of this? Of those 113 million mobile devices sold last quarter, just five million found their way to North America. Even the iPhone matched those numbers while RIM's BlackBerry nearly doubled them. Nokia is the gadget equivalent of the BBC—most Americans know about it, but the rest of the world depends on it.

Mobile TV

I'm not talking about expensive, pixelated video-over-3G services here. No, I mean full-fledged digital TV streamed straight to your handset, PC or PMP. Brazil has it, South Korea has it, and of course, so does Japan. The tech used in Japan and Brazil is known as 1seg, and it broadcasts over UHF alongside regular HD content. In Japan, more than two thirds of new mobile phones support the standard, which is a part of daily life for many people. Here, it's basically unheard of.

DMB is a alternative standard, targeted at a much wider audience. Developed in South Korea, the satellite and terrestrial version of the tech (S-DMB and T-DMB, respectively) are already in widespread use there and T-DMB is being deployed across much of Western Europe—trials appear to be going fairly well. Unfortunately for us, the VHF and UHF bands used by the T-DMB standard have already been claimed by preexisting TV programming and the military, so don't expect to see terrestrial TV on AT&T or Verizon phones anytime soon, though yours might be capable of the pay-for-play MediaFlo service that nobody uses.

Osaifu-Keitai, or, Your Phone Is Your Wallet

In much of the world, including the US of A, mobile payment systems have been ignored or abandoned after fitful starts. Not in Japan (if you're noticing a trend here, good job!). Osaifu-Keitai, the e-wallet standard adopted by Japanese telecom heavyweights NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank and au, essentially renders wallets obsolete. Phones equipped with Osaifu-Keitai can be charged with money, download tickets for anything from a sporting event to a plane trip, serve as official identification or link to a credit card.

Due to uncertainties about demand for such a service and loads of red tape , no comparable standard has emerged stateside, and it's a shame: If you can come to terms with the nebulous privacy issues associated with carrying so much private information on a losable device, it does seem like the plain, obvious and fundamentally good type of technological progress that is probably, with or without our assent, inevitable. Oh well.

Next-Gen Instant Messaging

AOL (emphasis on the A), burdened with decades-old stereotypes about its tech-tarded users and a persistent association with both geriatrics and late-'90s Meg Ryan movies, doesn't have the best public image. But they do still run the nation's most popular messaging platform! AIM, despite being a vestige of a service that its parent company doesn't really care much about anymore, is the de facto standard for messaging in the US (and Israel, strangely). As we saw earlier though, that doesn't always mean much.

Worldwide AIM/ICQ/iChat numbers are massively outclassed by MSN, or Windows Live as it's been called for the last few years. In China, the largest IM market, most people don't bother with either, opting for the Tencent QQ service. Both were born a solid five years after AIM, but their extra features—mostly messaging add-ons meant to appeal to a younger set—are questionably useful. It's not so much that sticking with AIM has left Americans on an inferior service, it's that it has isolated us, in a small way, from the rest of the messaging world.

MiniDisc

The story of the MiniDisc epitomizes tech regionalism: A solid, capable contender for recordable audio format dominance, the MD was met with enthusiasm in Japan. It was extremely advanced for its time, rolling fantastic, CD-like audio quality with the recording abilities of a cassette, all in a package that was more portable than either. Despite being introduced in the early '90s, the format held up well against the first generation of MP3 players, which, with their limited capacities, slim feature sets and high prices, didn't really provide a perceptible advantage over the venerable MD units. Sony had a solid product—and even a bit of a hit—on its hands.

At least, that's how the story went in Tokyo. Despite Sony's best efforts—and what seemed like an endless string of product revamps—the MiniDisc was never more than a marginal player in the US. Sure, it earned plaudits from audiophiles and musicians (check out the recording information for the thousands of concerts on Archive.org if you don't believe me), but the format never took off, either as a recording medium or, due to risk-averse record companies and the high cost of the actual media, as a competitor for the CD. When MP3 players came of age, the MD's door to America finally latched shut for good. Sony, of course, took a while to get the message, and Steve Jobs was laughing the whole time.

You can even watch TV while navigating—state and federal law permitting—using NIP, that is, "Navi In Picture." Did I mention it's also got a handsome leather jacket and stylish interchangeable face plates? Trust me, I'm not usually this jazzed about most of the transglobal jetsam that probably won't make it to the US. Somehow, this time, it's different. [Aving.net]
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As for features, it's got DMB for live TV, a 2-megapixel camera, 512MB flash, an audio/video player, microSD slot and the front camera for 3G video calling. Even though it's running Windows Mobile 5, this is still a phone we'd happily trade in most other phones for (provided we have the WiMAX/WiBro access to back it up). [Akihabaranews via Electronista]

The iRiver D5, on the other hand, is a Nintendo DS-Lite-like flip device that works as an electronic dictionary as well as a music player. Somehow we don't see electronic dictionaries taking off as music players over here in the US like they did in Korea, so we'll have to chalk both these up to Korean envy. – Jason Chen

iRiverfans [via Dapreview]

This new phone actually offers picture-in-picture viewing on the phone. Yes, on a screen so small you can barely watch one show you're now able to watch two at the same time. Generally speaking, the South Korean consumer electronics market is a look into the future of our own tech landscape, so it's not out of the realm of possibility for us to be able to watch both 30 Rock and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on our phones simultaneously at some point. Finally! –Adam Frucci

Samsung to present a new phone at the KIS [Akihabara News]

Will it ever make its way stateside, or will be forced to use ridiculous looking cellphones like LG's very own VX9400 if we're ever to watch video on our cellphone? Frankly, I (and many of you it seems) can't be bothered with watching video on such tiny screens anyway. – Nicholas Deleon

LG SB190 for Korea [SlashPhone.com]

Will Pantech ever release the IM-R110 here? Probably not, which is a shame since it looks pretty groovy. – Nicholas Deleon

IM-R110, the new Sky [Akihabaranews.com]

Truthfully, it's not a terribly exciting-looking cellphone and appears to be a basic slider, albeit one with a 2.12-inch display. Incidentally, the already-here Samsung M610 has a slightly larger display (2.22-inch) and is also a little thinner at 11.9mm (0.47 in.). Expect to see standard Bluetooth support and microSD card slots aplenty. No word when or if the cellphone will make it stateside but by the looks of it, it's really not all that "ultra." – Nicholas Deleon

Samsung SCH-B630 DMB Phone [SlashPhone.com]

The fact that this PMP has integrated DMB means that the overseas folks will get first dibs, but if the Cowon trends continue, then there should be a DMB-less version hitting the states next year. Unfortunately, despite the name, this PMP has absolutely nothing to do with the Mighty Ducks movies. – Travis Hudson

Cowon D2 Now Official [dapreview]

Product Page [iAUDIO.com via dapreview.net]

Slim 4-inch DMB TV [AVING via Mobile Mag]

Pantech to Launch 'Auto Pop-up Display' Satellite DMB Phone [Slashgear]

If you just need to have the latest thinnest cellphone, call the local cellphone importing guy or book a trip to South Korea, since it appears to only be coming out there. When it does, expect to see it for around $522. – Nicholas Deleon

SCH-B590, the latest Samsung DMB Slim phone [Akihabara News]

DMB's taken off in Korea, but here in the States we're just starting to get DMB-like service on Sprint, which will be called "VUE", on smaller devices like the SPH-M250 DMB phone from Samsung.

Samsung Releases 10 inch Mobile TV [hankyung]
Sprint's mobile TV service to be called VUE? [PDA live]

This MNT-4300DMB has a SiRF III GPS module, searchable maps, and Picture in Picture functionality so you can literally get directions and watch TV simultaneously. Best yet, it's only 349,000 Won ($363). We can't wait for the future to get here. – Jason Chen

Maxtek to present 4.3-inch T-DMB navigation [AVING]

It's also pretty cool the way that screen rotates and flips back into the clamshell when you're not using it, and it also has an MP3 player and 2-megapixel camera onboard. Someday the United States will have such technological marvels. – Charlie White

SCH-B470 the PIP DMB Phone from Samsung [Akihabara News]

There's a few other gems found in the DMX-760, like its seven-inch display being a touchscreen and the inclusion of an FM transmitter. (Don't cars already come with radios?) No price has been announced, however. – Nicholas Deleon

Freenex to present DMB navigation 'DMX-760' with PIP [Aving USA via New Launches]

Other features like the 12.1-inch screen, Core Duo T2400, 1GB of DDR RAM and GeForce Go 7300 makes this quite a capable machine. No price info yet, but we suspect it's only available in Korea for now. – Jason Chen

LW25-EV, 12.1", Duo Core, DMB, EVDO.... Thank you LG [Akihabara News via Slashgear]

No word on a US launch, but the UI supports English as well as Chinese, Japanese and Korean, so importing may be a possibility. – Jason Chen

Samsung touts 13.5mm-thick digital TV slider phone [Reg Hardware]