Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to cell phones overseas, because most of the world uses a GSM (Global System for MobileCommunications) standard, Schukai said.
In 1993, NTT DoCoMo, Japan's principal mobile-phone carrier, opted for a technical standard called Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), which was incompatible with the GlobalSystem for MobileCommunications (GSM), the standard adopted by most of the rest of the world.
The development follows an Indian court order that went in favor of Ericsson, which had sued Micromax for using some of its patented technology to make mobile phones that function on the globalsystem for mobilecommunications platform.