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To: Paul Engel who wrote (48454)	7/20/2001 10:49:32 AM
From: fyodor_	Respond to of 275872

Paul: Europe surprises me - I have seen technology adopted over there that is 10 years ahead of what we have here (example - wireless electronic order pads by Waitresses - even in small towns in France - circa 1993/1994 ! ). I have NOT seen that here in the US yet - perhaps it exists in some larger cities. Cell phone adoption is also much more widespread in Europe. Mobile phones is about the only area where Europe is significantly ahead of the US. IMHO the reason for this is two-fold: - Small countries with high population densities makes relatively few transmitters / receivers necessary while still providing "full" coverage. - State-run monopolies in the existing telecommunications sector meant that rates for using your phone (both domestic and foreign) were incredibly high. While these arguments could actually also be applied to delivery of goods (which is still a bit of a problem in Europe), there are additional issues like the exorbitant cost of fuel, high labor costs etc. We are only now beginning to see competition with the state-run¹ post monopolies, so I have to believe that it will get better over the next few years. In any event, Europe simply doesn't have the massive tradition of mail-order upon which to build. Most people don't have an "international" credit card. Most countries have some sort of internal monopoly which handles that&#133 Certainly, anyone can get a Visa card, but relatively few have it. And COD is not cheap here, btw. -fyo &nbsp ¹Many are not actually state-run anymore, but have been sold off in one chunk and are thus still monopolies.