QR Code support seems like a software and cultural issue; they have public awareness in Japan and are thus useful. But it's not like most phones don't have the

QR Code support seems like a software and cultural issue; they have public awareness in Japan and are thus useful. But it's not like most phones don't have the horsepower to read the things. TV on phones is a matter of the local broadcast technology making it easier to support smaller recievers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1seg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1seg). And also (again) a cultural issue; what's the use case for watching TV on your phone in the states? In Japan, it's so you can watch baseball when you're on the train. But I'm with you about payment. I got a special iPhone case with a slot for my train card (icoca) just so I could feel modern. :)