The US market is as unique as the Japanese (for different reasons). And when I arrived in US from UK in 2006 I was staggered at how behind the phone technology

The US market is as unique as the Japanese (for different reasons). And when I arrived in US from UK in 2006 I was staggered at how behind the phone technology was. In addition to the points raised in the Quora link, I think a lot of the reason US didn't innovate was because other than the NE corridor there isn't a public transport culture like there is in Japan and Europe - where people will sit on a train for 45 minutes and watch TV or engage with apps (and thus be prepared to pay for them). Sure the iPhone and Android have bought app culture to the US but I bet the amount of engagement they receive is much shorter than in Europe and Asia. Here in the US I think a lot of Apps are task oriented - "I want to find a restaurant nearby"... 30 seconds later the app is closed and done. In Europe I might be on a train for half an hour so I'll engage with a video-on-demand app... I'll watch 5 news clips and read two articles which might be 10minutes + usage.