I just read this post. And this one. And this one.

What they all have in common, besides their concern over Apple’s handhelds and the Japanese computer culture, is their mention of how the handhelds in Japan have magnitudes of hardware features that aren’t even heard of in other parts of the world, including the U.S.

One of the most recent (prototype) devices to be created in Japan is the Wellness Navigator, which is a mobile phone that can also give health checks and results of calorie and alcohol intake (using a breathalyzer).

However, while the mobile phones in Japan can double as charge cards, fingerprint scanners and door keys (among other things), they are noted for their lagging interfaces in comparison to the Western-made mobiles like the products of Apple, Nokia and Motorola.

So is it true? Have things come so full circle that the hardware products in America that are improved in their function by magnitudes in Japan’s factories now have to find improvement in their GUI accessibility in….America?

And furthermore, Garmin is coming out with the nuvifone, a phone with a multitouch keyboard (like the iPhone/iTouch) and built-in GPS navigation. So we in the West could see some more of the mobile functionality that is already commonplace in Japan within the next 5 years or so.

It will be interesting to see exactly how many ways the handheld can be applied, as it is no longer just a phone, just a media player or just a GPS device.

In fact, I’m very certain that it will get very heated when phones in the U.S. will serve as replacements for charge/credit/debit cards, transport tokens and movie/theme park/museum tickets. Oh, and this will be over Wi-Fi connections, not over spotty cellular data networks.

Politics and security scares will be involved in this development, as card makers and ticket makers will now have to compete with virtual card developers.

So yah, handhelds are bound to shake things up,