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

Re:Japanese youth does not have their own room

[QuickFox]

It's important here that the youth of Japan grow up in very small houses, They are so used to small things that they'd get lost in the vast expanse of a desktop computer screen, assuming they could get one through the door. A mobile screen feels just like home.

video calling in teh US

[Anonymous Coward]

I was using cu-seeme on a mac 6400 and video calling my relatives in 97, over a 19.2 k connection. Video (on my end, relatives had cable connection) was just a fast moving series of stills (their end they said it was smoother like a real movie), but it was doable and it worked, and the audio was fine. That's one decade ago even now.