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In New Zealand there are really only two mobile phone providers of any significance: Telecom and Vodafone.

Here in the UK however, the choice is amazing.

Yesterday I went into Reading city-centre and had a look around. Within three city blocks I found about eight shops flogging all manner of mobile phones and services.

It was interesting to note that some of the brands that are being pushed quite hard in NZ (such as Alcatel and Philips) are almost totally absent from the UK stores. Over here it's Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and a few Sharp units that line the walls of cellphone retailers.

The big noise here of course is the introduction of third-generation (3G) phones and services.

Unfortunately, according to most of the vendors I spoke with, the uptake of 3G has been very disappointing to date.

Perhaps it's a chicken and egg situation but I think I know at least one reason why 3G phones aren't attracting buyers -- they're too big!

Modern voice/SMS/WAP phones have become so small that it really is quite practical to drop them into your shirt pocket and forget about them, with not the slightest sign of any "unsightly bulge".

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Even the ultra-cheap phone I bought last week is only as long as, and less than half the width of my palm.

By comparison, the 3G phones, with their big colour screens, are quite a bit more difficult to cart about.

Those which fold in half, like the Sharp GX10, are inevitably quite thick when shut (oh, that unsightly bulge) and there's simply no way to miniaturise that screen without making it too difficult to read.

Then there's the issue of price.

Not only are the phones themselves quite a bit more expensive, but so are the services they use -- things such as video calling, etc.

Besides which -- who really wants to be able to use video-calling? Given advances in modem technology, shuch facilities have been viable over the regular phone network for several years but nobody's selling any visible number of videophones for the home are they?

Perhaps the real catalyst for handheld 3G mobiles will be those clever new roll-up flexible color displays that have been "just around the corner" for a couple of decades now.

Until then, I would not be surprised if most people are happy to settle for something a little more modest than 3G and put the money they've saved towards buying a new phone every 12 months or so. After all, it seems that the humble mobile has eclipsed brand-name sports clothing as the number-one fashion item of the 2000's.

And I wonder how long before that old Mae West line is revived in a slightly modified version that could go something like: "Hey, is that a 3G phone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?"

Today's column was published direct from the UK using the Vodafone GPRS digital data service -- thanks Vodafone

Although they said I could use all the data I needed to update the news headlines (below) I'm afraid that with time at a premium, this may be very much a hit and miss affair.

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