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Why Japan Leads the Mobile World

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the always-on-the-move dept.

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.'"

9 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. Give the people what they want... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...and they will come to you and love your product and weave it into their lifestyle. Simple as that.

    Give the people barely any service for their money, and they will use it only as much as they entirely have to and look for alternatives.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Give the people what they want... by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And that's why it fails. You know the story about sun and wind competing who gets some guy to take off his jacket?

      If you give people what they want, they will buy it because they want to have it. They will love it and they will start finding ways to use it in various ways, improving it and giving you ideas for the next version, because you've seen what people want to do with it, and many cannot do it themselves, so they will buy your next version that can do that. That's how it has been for years before the 90s, and it worked like a dream. People also simply and blindly went into the store and bought your gear, knowing that it will do what they want it to do.

      Today it's very different, just like you describe. There is no alternative, so people have to buy what's offered. They don't really want that thing, but they have no choice, so they will buy it. Some will simply refuse to buy it, because it simply isn't what they want. They will not love it. They will use it like they use a tool, for the purpose intended and nothing else. They couldn't anyway, either it's so locked down that they simply cannot use it for anything else, or it is strictly forbidden by some kind of law to use it for anything but what the manufacturer wants you to.

      In other words, today's products are inferior to what we had in the past. It's actually a shame.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Re:The UK only says "no never" by Duhavid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "So rather than skin the consumers for every cent, they keep a good-value proposition."

    That is it in a nutshell.

    America could have the same, except no one will sign up,
    because they know from their basic cell phone experience
    that they will be taken for a ride. People are not fooled
    for long.

    --
    emt 377 emt 4
  3. They lead because by twbecker · · Score: 1, Insightful

    they put up with the bugs of new tech. I heard somewhere that the reason cutting edge tech is always available in Japan first is that the Japanese are far more willing to put up with what we in the west would consider not ready for prime time. I guess they value whiz-bang features more than something that just works. Also, it doesn't hurt that the country is so small that it's relatively easy to roll out whatever infrastructure is required for such things.

    --
    "The problem with internet quotations is that many are not genuine" -Abraham Lincoln
  4. No to mobile video calling by paj1234 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Because mobile phones are primarily used for lying. For example, telling your wife you're late at the office, while in bed with your mistress.

  5. Companies are not interested... by KiwiCanuck · · Score: 2, Insightful

    in giving consumers what the consumer wants. The compaines only want to gouge you for the limited services that they offer. That's the North American way.

  6. Small country by trickonion · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because their country is as big as most of our states. When you can replace your entire cellular infrastructure with that few towers you better damn well be in the lead.

    --
    I got you an Andes mint, but it melted in my pocket
    1. Re:Small country by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is not a simple as that, since a high population density calls for a high cell density as well. Plus Japans mountainous terrain makes coverage planning difficult too.

      Face it, the USA has dropped the ball on the whole cellular thing. Australia has more advanced cellular networks than the USA, despite an even lower population density.

  7. Japan 'leads' because it's a tiny nation. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    That's it, that's all. There's nothing more to it. It's a tiny First World nation with population concentrated in a handful of areas.

    Establishing network technology for the nation of Japan is equivalent to establishing net-tech for a single US *city*.

    The clueless creeps that continually compare apples to oranges by invoking Korea and Japan as models of technological development apparently have no concept of problems of scale.