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IMO (and I'm not an Amazon defender) because of Amazon's huge presence in books they have to be careful of copyright. Rights for book distribution are geographically limited. And those rights don't seem to change whether the book is in physical or electronic form. That is probably the reason they are limiting distribution to the US. Yes, it's seems nuts to have geographical boundaries with electronic media but the publishers are just using the dead tree model without working out how electronic books change everything. It's easier to stay with what you know than to change. Smaller ebook sellers have the same restrictions I've found that it's easier to buy from them if you're not located in the right place to purchase the ebook. Amazon would be smacked hard if they started selling ebooks to the incorrect geographical location.
With the Kindle Amazon is selling the "experience". I expect with cellphones they'll be selling convenience and Kindle books will be available to some smartphones. I would expect they would start with one smartphone platform such as the Blackberry and move on to others like the Windows phones or maybe Palm phones. I would be shocked if Kindle books showed up first on the iPhone or the Android phone.
I'm sure someone will hack the Kindle cellphone app to make it work for a wider range of phones but I would think that only a small fraction of users would take advantage of this. As for myself, I don't have a smartphone and Kindle on the cellphone isn't enough to push me into upgrading my cell. Smartphones are $$, the plans more $$$ and I already have a $$ Kindle to read my ebooks.
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