Why Japan Leads the Mobile World

Phurge writes "It is no wonder that companies touting m-commerce as the next big web thing tell us Japan is the future blueprint. The Guardian takes a look at the cutting edge and everyday life of cell phone users in Japan. 'By offering the Japanese a multiplicity of services — and, very importantly, some very cool handsets to use them on — the operators have created what every western mobile service provider is dreaming of: a mobile lifestyle culture that keeps millions reaching for the mobile rather than the fixed internet ... What they are less keen on is video calling: in Japan, as in the UK, 90% say "no thanks, never". And as for using the mobile as a modem - to link to the internet - that's very expensive in Japan.'"

Comments

We need content

[jtroutman]

I am a mobile user, I have a Motorola Q and an unlimited access plan. I can access quite a few sites and some of them, Google for instance, even seem to be set up to recognize that I am accessing them from a mobile device. Most, however, are not. While I can still browse eBay, Wikipedia or Slashdot even, the formatting leaves a lot to be desired. eBay is full of gigantic graphics and Wikipedia and Slashdot both format the text like this:

Why
Japan
Leads
the
Mobile
World
Posted
by
Zonk
on
Thursday
September
27,
@01:06PM
from the always-on-the-move dept.

So while I can use my mobile device to get some news and for navigation using special mobile ready apps like Google Mobile Maps, until I can access the sites that I find most relevant I'm still tied to a PC.

Population density is the big thing in their favor

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a lot easier to roll out services in Japan than in the US. The population density is much higher. It costs much less per person to roll out the services there.

Cost

[nicklott]

The reason the mobile internet has not taken off in the UK is very simple: bandwidth cost.

We have the same flashy gadget laden phones that the japanese do, and, I believe, with not too much of a lag anymore. However after the mobile companies paid £4-5bn each for 3G frequencies they needed to get their money back and they decided to get it through bandwidth charges. Until very recently a typical charge per Mb was between £5-£10 (US$10-$20).

Very recently (like in the last 8 weeks) they have begun to fall, but I can't imagine why it didn't take off before, can you?

In my experience...

[interactive_civilian]

In my experience, it does not even cross the minds of a HUGE majority of Japanese people to rip someone off. They are a very trusting people in a safe, peaceful, low crime country.

In Japan you can see unattended store displays full of expensive products (even including flat screen TVs) out on the street, but it doesn't occur to anyone to take something. You can walk down the street in the middle of the night with the equivalent of thousands of dollars in your pocket in cash and not be worried about someone mugging you. (From personal experience) You can lose your passport in one of the busiest shopping areas of Tokyo (Shibuya), walk into the police station the next day or the day after, and get it back because someone would rather turn it in than steal your identity. Hell, you can lose your wallet with money in it, and the chances are you will get it back with all of the money (though you are expected to reward the finder something like 10%). You can accidentally leave your really nice, expensive camera on the train, and easily get it back later from one of the stations on that line.

So, people don't worry about someone wirelessly stealing their ID data and stuff from their phones because generally people aren't interested in taking advantage of each other. They are interested in living a fun, good life, not in ruining the lives of others.

Yes, there are exceptions. A big one in recent years was the "Ore Ore" scam where young men would call random old people saying "It's me! It's me" and their target would say, "What? Is that you Takeshi?". The scammer, now armed with a name, would reply, "Yeah, it's me, Takeshi. I'm in trouble, grandma. I need you to send me money." And then they would get money. This scam worked because people are naïve and (sadly) old people sometimes not well taken care of by their families.

But, generally speaking, this kind of crime is not a big concern in Japan. I hope it never becomes one, because the low crime rate is one of the things I truly loved while living there.

Re:Japanese youth does not have their own room

[TheRaven64]

No, because you don't enter kanji directly. You enter the kana, which are phonograms, and then (optionally) select the corresponding kanji (ideogram) for a short sequence of kana from a short list. It might be possible to devise an input method for entering kanji directly along the lines of cangjie, where the button presses corresponded to the start or end point of a brush stroke in a 3x3 grid. I don't know how difficult this would be, but it might be an interesting project.

Re:Japanese youth does not have their own room

[gordo3000]

not true, computer offerings in japan( I live in tokyo) are on par with the US for size. houses are smaller but most other things are more efficient with space(including their desks, household appliances, beds, etc). game consoles are the exact same as here.

In japan though, it's common to have a 1 to 2 hour commute which is almost always done on public transportation. what does that mean? you have 2 to 4 hours a day where you can play games, check email, send messages, with NOTHING better to do! Trains are crowded so the only thing you can do is sit around and play these games or read books. Cars are far less common as a method of transportation than in the US.

In general, convenience is easy to get in Japan if you have the money. cell phone usage is generally 1 cent a text message and 20 cents a minute for talking(yeah, highway robbery). I can get GPS, a charge system to pay for goods at the convenience store, and electronic passes that cover all the public transportation systems. in new cabs, I could use my cell phone to pay rather than toting around cash.

Myths, myths, and more myths...

[InakaBoyJoe]

Every now and then the same myths about the Japanese mobile market come up. Here's what we've seen on Slashdot today:

1. "Japanese live in small houses, have small fingers, and they just love small things." "The Japanese" are not some kind of lilliputian race. In fact, these days their phones are BIGGER than most current GSM models. There is indeed space for a PC in most homes, although it's true that the level of PC ownership is not as high as in the US.
   
   
2. "Japanese are all crowded together in the cities, so it's easier to build wireless networks." Urban population percentage: Japan - 65%, USA - 80%, Canada - 80%. In reality, the proportion of people living in the densest cities is more like Canada (the biggest wireless backwater in the world). Moreover, once you start getting REALLY dense, it becomes even harder to build mobile networks because you end up having to put base stations in weird places instead of just erecting a tower.
   
   
3. "Mobile phones are bling in Asia." Commonly uttered by those who don't understand that Japan is not Hong Kong. High-end "fashion phones" do not drive features in Japan. DoCoMo's flagship 900 series phones have all retailed around the $200 mark since forever. The bling that you sometimes see on the street is all aftermarket dress-up and doesn't have much to do with new features. In fact, these days, the hottest market is the creation of high usability, large-type phones for the senior market.
   
   
4. "Using the phone as a modem is expensive in Japan." As of 2007, also not true anymore. I posted a thread before realizing there were more myths to bust. Flat rate data for laptops is also coming from the Big Three carriers within the next month or so.

I could go on, but when it comes to Japan, be careful whose information you trust. Lots of people who claim to know about Japan don't speak even speak the language, which continues to contribute to a lot of misinformation.

Myths aside, I think the real reasons Japan is so far ahead have a little bit to do with culture and language, a little more to do with urban density causing carriers to push low-bandwith services (i.e., text messaging) coupled with public transport and portability factors, and a lot more to do with insanely poor telecom regulation in other areas of the world (here's looking at you, Canada).

There are no really good reasons why we can't have the same quality of mobile services as Japan -- if only we demanded it (in large masses) from our governments, telecom carriers, and handset manufacturers. Thankfully, in the wake of iPhone and the unlocking debate it started, we might see some positive change. When we're on par with Japan, I'm going to laugh at all the pundits who claimed there was something unique about Japanese people, society, or culture that makes them so mobile-centric.