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Japanese Video Chain Cashes in on Mobile Internet

Posted by timothy on from the what-you-watch-when dept.

Matthew Rothenberg writes: "CIO Insight has a case study that describes how Tokyo's Tsutaya video stores are tracking their users' shopping habits in real time via NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode wireless services and devices. 'We're not interested in merely renting videos to people,' Tsutaya founder Muneaki Masuda says. 'We're collecting lifestyle information, and the possibilities of that are, over time, enormous.'"

1 of 150 comments (clear)

  1. Less worse than Amazon, probably... by wirefarm · · Score: 4, Informative

    I live in Japan and have been renting videos from Tsutaya for years.
    In Japan, for a huge number of young people, the keitai (cell phone) is the primary phone - they don't have another one in their apartment.
    So when you sign up at Tsutaya, they want your keitai number. Big deal. I'll bet Blockbuster has your phone number, too.
    Over here, it used to be that your keitai number was also your email - 09012345678@docomo.ne.jp - most people have changed it to something a bit less spammable. (I don't know anyone who hasn't changed it.)
    So, most likely, Tsutaya doesn't have any linked information, unless you've offered to link it for them via their website...

    I just don't see how this relates exclusively to Japan or to advanced CRM or keitais: the same thing could have been done 100 years ago by your library using postcards.

    Keitais are not so advanced here that they can tell when you are watching a movie or close to a store. Perhaps you get an occasional email on your phone. (I've never gotten one.) This is not particularly Big-Brother-ish.

    Blockbuster already knows what movies you rent from them, what days you rent, how often you pick a foreign film, a soft-core, a sci-fi, new release, whatever. They also have your phone number and maybe your email, if you signed up for some promotion or "member's club" on their website.

    This is completely a non-story.
    Any website that ties browsing to any real-world activity can do this.
    If blockbuster.com or bestbuy.com has a page where you can enter your personal info and you actually do, you can bet that you will be tracked in this way.
    It's not really an invasion of privacy if you are opting in...

    Cheers,
    Jim in Tokyo

    --
    -- My Weblog.