Because of the cost of manufacturing, licensing and passing FCC testing for bands that are used in roughly 13 countries - countries with a LOT less potential buyers per capita than in Europes 26-30 countries with triple the amount of potential buyers per capita. Plain and simple.
Carl! Been a long time since I've seen you in these parts. Hows it going with the Bold?! Are you looking towards the new Atomic on the Bold replacement late this year or early next?!! I'm VERY interested in such a technology ... ONLY if ...
1) the speed of navigation can be adjusted like current trackball,
2) there is a direct button press to select,
3) Browsing web or popup selections allow automatic link jump-to-highlight, so I don't have to place a USELESS cursor onto the link. Cursor in Browser is USELESS if I cannot directly copy & paste.
4) MOST importantly, the ability to swipe+hold in 1 direction to speed scroll: in Browser, MemoPad, Calendar timeline, etc.
btw, this N97 is every bit the E-Series that the E71 was that you were very curious about. Yet again an RS/600 for 3270/50 emulation is paramount for you still, I believe.
Same reason that you CANNOT pull a cpu out of a laptop and simply drop another in. Chipset compatibility, ZIF negated in MOST mobo-designs, and well profits.
Right now the ONLY reason why HP likes the AMD Athlon64 mobile chips is because they ALL fit in Socket-A slots. So a pull-replace situation is VERY cost effective and due to making so many laptops that use AMD chips its still remains profitable, considering the memory controller is on the chip. Right now Intel has YET to put memory controller on a Mobile C2D chip. Only power consumption 51w vs 71w on the AMD Athlon64 mobiles & internal bus speeds the end user has to watch for in HP laptops.
This doesn't quite work out the same for mobile computers/smartphones in this day. Everything is soldered and rightfully so because these smartphones are shaken more often during lifecycle ownership than laptops are. Still I appload your idea.