US surpasses European 3G subscribers by 0.1% -- first!

If comScore's data is to believed then the US has done the unthinkable and passed Western Europe (aka, old Europe right Donnie?) in terms of 3G adoption. 28.4% of American mobile cellphone subscribers north of that southern land mass with a similar sounding name now sport 3G devices compared to a measly 28.3% average for Europe's largest countries. That's an 80% surge in the US last year even though T-Mobile is still 3G-less. Man, it's like the 100-meter butterfly all over again, eh Europe?

[Fred @ Sep 4th 2008 8:26AM]

How does this make anybody "first"? Did you get struck by the stupid when you forgot that Japan and South Korea have had 3G networks years before Europe and the US?

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 4th 2008 8:33AM]

Did you get struck by the stupid when you totally missed the olympic reference made by the giant picture at the top of the article?

[Fred @ Sep 4th 2008 8:45AM]

Seeing how there's no "first!" in 3G adoption, there's no link with the Olympics achievement. Which, as such, makes the olympics picture not a reference but something completely unrelated. I can't believe I have to explain stuff like this.

[Marko @ Sep 4th 2008 8:48AM]

Sorry Fred, you just don't get it!

[konshuss @ Sep 4th 2008 9:11AM]

i prefer to think the writers are jealous of all the "first!" posts, they're now beating them(retards) to the punch.

[Osiris @ Sep 4th 2008 9:29AM]

Will someone explain further? Otherwise I'm with Fred on this one.
Just seems like an excuse to dig at us Europeans.

[Rynth @ Sep 12th 2008 5:06AM]

to the dude above:

It is a dig at us Europeans, thats why its funny.

Eh, I get it, US have got to be better at something, just look at the economy.

[Marko @ Sep 4th 2008 10:11AM]

for more info about the picture in the post....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26216648/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics_-_Men%27s_100_metre_butterfly

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 4th 2008 12:22PM]

It isn't a dig at anybody, there is no "first place" in 3G market share. Nobody is bragging about anything. It's just a joke about the infinitesimally tiny difference between the numbers, which bears an amusing similarity to a recent photo-finish.

[Prince Ali @ Sep 4th 2008 8:24AM]

Ohhhh in your face Europe! You can keep all those overpriced Nokia's too.

[Niz @ Sep 4th 2008 8:32AM]

erm Nokia have phones priced at £15 if you wanted (brand new) its not like you have to buy the most expensive one, of course it is desirable, i cant afford the N95 8GB so i went for the N82. I don't weep and complain its too expensive.

[LondonConsultant @ Sep 4th 2008 9:06AM]

Europe's percentage would be higher if all the UK's Olympic cycling and rowing champions owned 3G phones...

[Sip @ Sep 4th 2008 9:30AM]

I guess when many of here dont get the difference with unlocked and locked it's hard to understand Nokia priceys(NA customers). But even us great Europeans buy these expensive phones via carriers and Nokia got really competitive pricing policiey. Company that would have all it's phones for premium wouldn't have 40% market share.

Nokia's brand is strong in that sense that Nokia sells phones for 20€ unlocked, but still when it comes to premium phones it can control that market too with the Nokia brand(8xxx series) or smart phones.

[Jim @ Sep 4th 2008 10:08AM]

ah but unlike you guys, here in Holland we actually get it when we pay for it :p

[heffeque @ Sep 4th 2008 10:13AM]

After being behind Europe for almost 15 years... it's about time!
Now lets see if the US can surpass Europe in lowering fuel consumption per capita:
http://www.swivel.com/graphs/show/20201879?limit_modifier=all&graph[limit]=19&commit=%3E

[Peter @ Sep 4th 2008 10:29AM]

like your WMD, the data is conveniently cooked... it only uses data from 5 european countries, but there are 27 countries in Europe... If it counted Europe as Europe, that slender 0.1 will vanish.

[heffeque @ Sep 4th 2008 10:34AM]

@Peter: actually you're right. Curiously Eastern Europe countries are the ones that have the biggest 3G penetration. Maybe the coverage is almost as crappy as AT&T, I don't know, but it seems that Eastern European's love the new phone-toys.

[heffeque @ Sep 4th 2008 10:37AM]

Wow... I totally raped English grammar there. Sorry, guys.

[Pdexter @ Sep 4th 2008 10:55AM]

Well on good reason why easter europeans got so good 3G coverege is because they dont have strong old GSM network so they went fast to the 3G.

[tugger @ Sep 4th 2008 1:20PM]

The difference of course is that 3G actually works in Europe...

[maty @ Sep 4th 2008 6:18PM]

Did anyone notice the following:

"European Total (5 countries) 28.3%"

As defined by the Western European Union, "Western Europe" is 9 countries:-
France
Germany
Italy
Belgium
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Portugal
Spain
Greece

They missed out four whole countries? Wow.

[LondonConsultant @ Sep 4th 2008 8:19PM]

@maty

The Western European Union actually comprises 10, not 9, members. You forgot the UK...

[Malfoy Roark @ Sep 4th 2008 8:25AM]

Whoever chose that picture deserves the day off. Well played.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 4th 2008 8:33AM]

Agreed. Would have been 10x funnier if it wasn't blatantly pointed out at the end of the article, though.

[TareX @ Sep 4th 2008 9:25AM]

Obviously the person who chose the photo thought it was too good of a choice, and had to mention it in the article.

But LOVELY.

[kccboy2004 @ Sep 4th 2008 10:36AM]

that is great !!! well done North America. it is a pity that the rest of the world is going 4G. good luck catching up with that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G

"the fourth generation cannot be an incremental evolution of current 3G technologies, but rather the total replacement of the current 3G networks and handsets."

Why can't the North American invent something first. They are always trying to play catch-up with the Euopean's and the Japanese, now the Chinese.

Come-on USA innovate... don't just be followers !!

[chris @ Sep 4th 2008 11:09AM]

@KCCboy2004

I guess discovering electricity wasn't enough? *shrug*

[kccboy2004 @ Sep 4th 2008 11:19AM]

@chris,


"@KCCboy2004

I guess discovering electricity wasn't enough? *shrug*"

=========================
who invented electricity ?

anyone want to lay claim on that...

you idiot !!! i laughed my ass of at your claim, total fool.

[Serial 8-Ball Mouse @ Sep 4th 2008 11:26AM]

"come-on USA innovate... don't just be followers !!"

So many things so horribly wrong with that sentence it's really not even worth arguing.

[kccboy2004 @ Sep 4th 2008 11:27AM]

@chris,

@KCCboy2004

I guess discovering electricity wasn't enough? *shrug*
============

it seems I am going to have to kick your ass and give you a history lesson....

http://www.electricityforum.com/who-invented-electricity.html

Quote from text:
From the writings of Thales of Miletus it appears that Westerners knew as long ago as 600 B.C. that amber becomes charged by rubbing. There was little real progress until the English scientist William Gilbert in 1600 described the electrification of many substances and coined the term electricity from the Greek word for amber. As a result, Gilbert is called the father of modern electricity.

Are you referring to Franklin ? Franklin gets a footnote in history for ripping off Kinnersley (an Englishman) for merely recognizing positive and negative.

This is history though, you go ahead and re-write it as much as you like.

[rayarub @ Sep 4th 2008 11:35AM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison

[fanman @ Sep 4th 2008 11:45AM]

Sorry America, we couldn't hear you from under the pile of all of our gold medals.

[T.B.B. @ Sep 4th 2008 11:53AM]

Right... America never invented anything.

How about the Airlane, Internet, Computer, Helicopter, Lightbulb, CONSUMER Electric production, Telephone, CELL PHONE, Nuclear Energy to name a few.

The next highly important modern invention that IS NOT American might very well be the first. * Somewhat sarcastic, but not nearly as misinformed as the O.P.

[Josh @ Sep 4th 2008 12:27PM]

I completely agree!

[kccboy2004 @ Sep 4th 2008 12:28PM]

@T.B.B

Golly gosh chap, are you an idiot or what ? I just laid out for you in black and white the fact that electricity was not invented by an American (Franklin BTW was the son of an Englishman, who spent a lot of time in Europe - he was a freemason = extremely dodgy)).

An american invented the Airplane ?
Try this; http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/12/10/brazil.santosdumont.reut/index.html

You go ahead an re-write history.

Computers:
http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/computer.html

You go ahead an re-write history.

How about putting a man on the moon ? Germans, Hitler's scientists, paid for by the american tax payer.

You go ahead and re-write history.

[Jack Storm @ Sep 4th 2008 12:58PM]

KCC just got owned by TBB

America invented and innovated alot. Come on now, we have Microsoft and we have Apple. Think what u think about them, but they have alot of inventions under their belts.

[frauhottelmann @ Sep 4th 2008 1:57PM]

Did you know that every know conventional aircraft design know today was actually already checked by German scientist during WW2 (though not for a good reason), including the B2 design? And kcc is right that the Saturn 5, developed by Wernher von Braun, is just a big V2 (I guess you what THAT is??).
Back to topic, we should compare coverage of cell phone networks. lol

[maveric101 @ Sep 4th 2008 2:17PM]

fanman is an ass. the US won more medals than any other country. been like that for many years.

[Niz @ Sep 4th 2008 8:26AM]

From what ive gathered reception sucks for 3G as a whole in the US. So how valid is this? in the UK and for me 3G reception is surprisingly very good on Orange UK though some other networks suffer so i cant speak for everyone.

[Erwos @ Sep 4th 2008 8:31AM]

Not true - Sprint's EVDO service has been nearly everywhere I've gone.

And Europeans damn well know that their 3G coverage isn't all that amazing, or are we counting EDGE as 3G again?

[Kamokazi @ Sep 4th 2008 9:04AM]

No, he's got a point. I live in the boondocks in western Ohio, and I have to drive an hour to his a spot with EV-DO on Verizon. Verizon is the only carrier that covers my entire town. Sprint covers most of it, and I have to drive 20 minutes to hit AT&T coverage (That's right, your iPhone will not even work here), and 90 minutes for T-mobile. Luckily fo me, we are supposed to get EV-DO added to our tower by the end of the year (benefit of having a carrier monopoly...your area looks like a lot of subscribers to them, hehe)...just in time for the Touch Pro :-)

So there are many rural areas without 3G coverage yet...and half of the US lives in rural areas and small towns like mine. With the density of Europe, it is very likely they have considerably more people actually using 3G.

[schmitty338 @ Sep 4th 2008 9:16AM]

@Kamokazi

Wow...the US sucks at everything...I live in Canada, which is as large and spread out as you can get, and we have amazing EVDO coverage. Heck, I want camping last week in the middle of one of the largest conservation areas in north america several hours from any major city and I could check my email and surf the web in sweet EVDO goodness.

[John @ Sep 4th 2008 10:00AM]

Enjoy your amazing EV-DO coverage. I'm sure it makes it much easier to bend over for the carriers :p

[JerryA @ Sep 4th 2008 10:14AM]

@John: Actually my plan is incredibly cheap. I've had unlimited EVDO for $15/month for a couple of years now (before that my old Palm didn't support EVDO). Since the Rev. A upgrade it's been more than fast enough.

[rock99rock @ Sep 4th 2008 12:17PM]

@Kamokazi

Dude, you're in Ohio.

[jakem @ Sep 4th 2008 8:31AM]

Who's Phelps?

[Mobius_1 @ Sep 4th 2008 8:58AM]

A man modified with fish genes and a pair of flappers for feet engineered by CIA for the sole purpose of winning swimming races and breaking records in the process

[Kamokazi @ Sep 4th 2008 9:05AM]

At least he's not a 14-year-old gymnast.

[heffeque @ Sep 4th 2008 10:22AM]

Or a basketball player that doesn't have to take random drug tests.

[Joe @ Sep 4th 2008 8:31AM]

This is just stupid. by 0.1 .... who cares. 3G reception no good. Why is this a competition, and even if it was as pointed out its not as if were winning the race.... It should be a race to better 3G reception and could then be used by default ...