Japanese and their cell phones
We all know from images in the press and on blogs how the Japanese love their cell phones, but what is the real situation behind all these pictures? What do the Japanese really do with their cell phones? This article will try to shed some light on their habits.
In Japan there are three major cell phone service providers. In customer base order, first is NTT DoCoMo, second and rapidly catching up is au by KDDI, and trailing way behind and losing ground is SoftBank (ex Vodafone, ex J-Phone). Note that unlike most other markets phones are in principle not interchangeable between the service providers, and almost all phones are sold with contracts. However, this does not lead to market stagnation as one might think; instead Japan's phones are on the whole two or three years ahead of western markets, and feature-rich phones make up the bulk of the market. So, with the background set up, let's look at some of the uses people put their keitais to, as cell phones are known as in Japan.
In Japan there are three major cell phone service providers. In customer base order, first is NTT DoCoMo, second and rapidly catching up is au by KDDI, and trailing way behind and losing ground is SoftBank (ex Vodafone, ex J-Phone). Note that unlike most other markets phones are in principle not interchangeable between the service providers, and almost all phones are sold with contracts. However, this does not lead to market stagnation as one might think; instead Japan's phones are on the whole two or three years ahead of western markets, and feature-rich phones make up the bulk of the market. So, with the background set up, let's look at some of the uses people put their keitais to, as cell phones are known as in Japan.
Ring Tones
Japan leads the way with not just simple beep tones, nor even just MIDI tunes, but full quality audio and music video clips can be downloaded, at a cost, of course, to almost all of the newer phone models. Despite the vast choice of formats available and the relatively low-quality of the MIDI-quality tunes, surveys show that almost 60% of Japanese cell phone users are quite happy with that.
Electronic Money
Loading your cell phone with ready cash is now an almost standard feature in phones as the majority sport FeliCa IC Chips, or contactless RFID, that just need to be touched to a scanner, even whilst the phone is switched off, in order to pay with either ready cash or charge to credit card details stored within the chip. Even railroad commutation tickets (season tickets) can be electronically recorded, and with about 3% of the Tokyo population doing so, a few commuters are finding they no longer need to carry a wallet with them.
QR Codes
QR Codes are a two-dimensional barcode that appear on locations as diverse as small 3 centimetre squares in magazines and huge tens of metre tall banners hung off the side of tower blocks. Most camera phones, which means most phones full stop, can read in these codes and decode the URL or mail address held within. In fact, even as early as two years ago almost three-quarters of cell phone users had used them.
Cell phones in Japan
this is actually lot...
ear nose throat doct...
sukiyaki
goofin
two teeth
automatically generated by Flickr
Electronic Books
With recent improvements in the size and pixel density of the typical cell phone display, downloading and reading both text-based and graphics novels has been on the increase, giving birth to authors who not only write stories that suit the mobile environment, but authors who use their cell phone as their main writing platform. Currently, the most popular genre of electronic text is female-oriented comics, beating out novels by almost two to one.
Mobile Phone Smilies
Smilies, emoticons, facemarks, or kaomoji in Japanese all means the same thing, these smiling faces made up from characters typed in on the keyboard. Japan has an extra advantage when it comes to these marks - their huge character set allows for a wide selection of characters to help make up that perfect face. Typical emails are littered with both charcter-based emoticons and graphical icons, with over 13% using at least three per mail message.
One Seg Television
The latest and greatest feature that many cell phones are now sporting is One Seg Television, the slightly oddly name for digital terrestrial television broadcasts. In addition to the standard television features, these phones pick up the accompanying data stream that includes subtitles, additional program interactive elements, and other reference data. Despite almost a quarter looking for this feature in their next phone, not even 4% actually use it!
Conclusion
This article has painted a picture of what the Japanese get up to with their cell phones and showcases their rich and vibrant electronic culture that humbles the average western stubby portable. If you'd like more information about Japan's mobile market, or many other aspects of Japanese life, What Japan Thinks provides the perfect reference for all your Japan marketing information.
by KenYN
Hi I'm Ken, and I'm a long-time resident of Japan and rather expert in the ways of Nihon! (more)
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