最新的日本手機市場觀念

Handsets ::General news ::Services ::Innovation ::Technology ::Future
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W-CDMA/EVDO Mobile Security presentation
November 24th, 2005
On Thursday night last week I attended a small presentation about mobile content security entitled ‘W-CDMA/EVDO Mobile Security presentation’ here in Tokyo. Actually the main focus of the discussion seemed to be more about the future ‘killer aps’ ( next big thing ) for mobile phones – online gaming and push-to-talk messaging and only a small amount of time was spent discussing actual security issues.
The next big thing, according to the speaker - Greg Tarr, CEO of SecureMobile, is going to be the expansion of the mobile gaming market to bring in cross platform multi-player games – being able to join in the massive multiplayer online games that are so popular on the PC using the phone handset.
Also, the push-to-talk service seems to be very much in the hype at the moment outside of Japan and the attendees at the presentation hope that it will also be big in Japan. Push-to-talk was released on the recent 902i Docomo handsets ( D902i, F902i, N902i ) last week and allows you to connect directly in real-time to a group of friends and chat, it is a similar idea to msn and other messenger services but over voice. There was a debate about whether or not this would prove popular in Japan because the technology is quite ‘intrusive’ – also the Japanese are not as fond of ‘voice’ services as they are of say text based email systems. The scenario described concerned users on the subway – they would probably not want to be talking into their handset as it is frowned upon in the rail system.
The main points that were made regarding security were to do with future worries - hacking handsets and viruses, the biggest problem they foresee is with viruses and worms on the handset that would target other online services in DOS ( denial of service ) attacks. The audience did seem a bit skeptical about the possibilities put forward by the speaker and we learned that at the moment the biggest player in the phone handset antivirus market – McAffee has decided there is not a large enough market to make the products viable. Other drawbacks include the limited memory capacity on the handsets – virus databases would be hard to store, the phone would have to scan itself on a regular basis – battery life would be a problem here. I think, however, that the main problem is the consumer does not believe that handset viruses are a big enough worry to pay for the service just yet. Perhaps in a few years but not now.
The interesting thing worth mentioning is that, according to Mr. Tarr, there is a growing number of ‘professional hackers’ coming out of the old east-block countries ( ex-soviet states ) who are specifically targeting mobile services in Asia because of the lack of security measures taken by most providers and the percieved potential for monetary gains. I cannot be sure how much of what he said was hype or paranoia, but it is a message that should reinforce our commitment to making products as secure as possible.
Overall it was an interesting, yet short, look at the mobile phone market and trends from a more international perspective. The downsides was there was not enough concrete discussion about the security issues and the event seemed more geared up for networking.
Posted inTechnology,News |
Pay for flights with your Felica cellphone
October 17th, 2005

Felica phones can now be used to pay for air travel.
The Japanese air carrier ‘ANA’ now allows you to pay for and collect your flight vouchers using your Felica equipped cell phone. You can book your flight through the i-mode enabled ticket service and then on the day of travel, pick up your ticket from the airport by swiping your handset over a Felica reader.
Posted inServices,News |
Easy to use handset from Docomo
October 12th, 2005

Docomo has just announced a new handset which is set to compete with the easy to use ‘Kantan keitai’ from tu-ka.
This is a no-frills, simple to use handset which features a clock. Yep, that’s all folks. Its dead easy to use and will appeal to the growing number of ‘old people’ in Japan.
Posted inHandsets,News |
‘Docomo Coin’ cell phone promotions
September 14th, 2005
Docomo Coin is a new promotion scheme that lets you earn ‘coins’ when you visit participating i-mode sites and campaigns on your cell phone. These coins are worth 1 yen each and can be saved up and then used to pay your phone bill.
The user registers with the service, creating a ’savings account’, and then when visiting participating sites, coins are automatically added to this account without any further action. The user can then have the equivalent amount of money deducted from their next phone bill.
The service is just a simple reward scheme, however, because it is being run by the network operator – Docomo – the points system can be applied by many different sites and so a whole host of companies can take advantage of the incentive for their marketing.
This is a standardised scheme, with a real, tangible reward and will provide benefit for the network – generating more traffic; benefit for the partner companies – incentive to visit their content and fill in questionnaires; and benefit for the user by giving them money off their cell phone bill.
At the same time, this is not going to wipe out the more traditional promotions, which tend to offer more interesting gifts, and it won’t put off more innovative campaigns which, by there nature, assuming they are successful, entice the user in more interesting and novel ways.
Posted inInnovation,News |
Keep track of your kids with your cell phone
September 12th, 2005
If you need to keep a track of your loved ones, your children, or even I suppose, your spouse, you can now do that with a well established service from EZweb.

The EZnavi service, as mentioned before with the in-car navigation system, comes in a new flavor, this one designed to send out a beacon with your location. Designed for use by worried parents, the system allows the child to broadcast their current position and then displays it on a map on the parent’s cell phone.
This is a perfect usage of a technology that is so popular with children and allows for unobtrusive monitoring of the child’s well being much more discreet than a phone call in front of friends.
Posted inServices,News |
ROKR: The iTunes cell phone with a limit
September 9th, 2005
ROKR update:
So it seems the first critisms of this new handset are now out into the wild, probably even before anyone has had a real chance to try the phone out in real life.
One of the biggest critisms of the ROKR cell phone concern the DRM ( digital rights management ) system it employs. The DRM is supposed to stop you from playing copywriten tracks that you haven’t paid for or don’t have permission to listen to for free.
So there is a bit of a fuss being kicked up about why the DRM on the ROKR will limit the amount of tracks you can download to the phone to 100, even if you don’t exceed the 512MB storage capacity of the handset.
This does seem very strange, and would be annoying to someone like me who has well over a 100 ‘favorite’ tracks at the moment, even if there is enough space for me to store more music, the DRM software will not allow me to.
One does have to ask ‘why?’.
Posted inHandsets,News |
ROKR : New iTunes cell phone from Motorola
September 8th, 2005
Today’s breaking news does not come from Japan but instead from the United States, where Motorola have just announced the launch of their new phone which integrates the iTunes service from Apple.

This means that users on the Cingular network in the US will be able to download and listen to music directly on their cell phone.
The catch it seems is that you still need to link your phone up to your Mac or PC to transfer your tunes, you can’t download them directly over the air to the phone itself. But this is probably just a small drawback and has not got in the way, so far, of the extremely successful iPod series, which also requires you to hook up to your computer.
One thing that does amuse me though is the name : ROKR, which in my mind summons up an image of Avril Lavigne chatting to her boyfriend on her Razr phone.
Here is a direct link to the website
Posted inHandsets,News |
GPS Navigation on the cell phone
September 5th, 2005
Continuing on the theme from the last article about location based services in Japan, I came across a really nice looking service from AU today which allows you to navigate, sat-nav style, on your phone, whilst driving your car.
The service runs on your cell phone and takes your position using the GPS chip in your handset and gives on screen directions and maps to help you navigate yourself around whilst driving.

Well, actually the service is not meant to be used by the driver but by a passenger; the Japanese quite rightly, as in Europe, do not allow you to drive whilst using your mobile.

The system is available as a one off, free, download and costs a monthly fee of 315 yen ( $2.80 )for heavy users and 157 yen ( $1.4 ) for light users ( excluding packet charges ).

It is really easy to use, you just enter in your desired destination and either follow the on-screen map or the directions presented to you, very similar to the in-car navigation systems. The phone does well with its small screen, but really it is not something you can use by yourself - you would definitely need someone riding in the passenger seat shouting instructions.

 
Posted inServices,Technology,News |
3G cell phone location based search
September 4th, 2005

This image shown above is typical of the types of local search systems available at the moment, on both the 2G / 2.5G and 3G networks in Japan.
The level of detail has been enough to guide the user to the store or attraction of their desire so far, but now things are taking a massive leap now that the bandwidth of 3G is really being taken advantage of.
Check these images:

They show what is now available from your cell phone - real, street level satellite photographs of your surrounding area. Its amazing, this technology has just pounced onto the online world, with Google maps bringing the technology to the mainstream attention a whole host of smaller players are now investing in the feeds available and producing applications for the mobile world.
The services differ in the way they can pinpoint your location, from the simple cell triangulation that works with any phone, up to full GPS location depending on the capabilities of the handset. Surprisingly it was the 2.5G cell phones, the CDMA technology phones, which have the most handsets with GPS chipsets, the 3G phones are only now starting to arrive with the necessary chips.
So from now, with the high bandwidth from 3G paired with the accuracy of GPS positioning and the ready availability of satellite imagery, we are really going to see some action in the market. And with companies like Google and Yahoo rolling out their location based services the established players, like ‘goo navi’ , are going to have to fight hard to hold onto their market share.
Posted inServices,Innovation,Future,News |
Press release: MobileTV survey from Nokia
August 30th, 2005
NOKIA PRESS RELEASE August 30, 2005
Consumers also want to watch TV programs on their cell phone
Espoo, Finland - Results announced today from one of the world’s first commercial mobile TV pilots in Helsinki, Finland reveal the popularity and willingness to pay for mobile TV services, underlining the potential of this exciting new mobile application. 41% of pilot participants would be willing to purchase mobile TV services and half thought that a fixed monthly fee of 10 euros was a reasonable price to pay. Over half (58%) said that they believed broadcast mobile TV services would be popular.
Digita, Elisa, MTV, Channel Four Finland (Nelonen), Nokia, TeliaSonera Finland and YLE jointly conducted the pilot in Finland between March and June 2005 with 500 users accessing mobile TV using the Nokia 7710 smartphone and DVB-H technology.
Content is king
According to the pilot results, pilot participants not only wanted to watch familiar program offerings, but they would also welcome mobile TV content that is suitable for short and occasional viewing. Familiar programs available through national Finnish television channels proved to be the most popular followed by sports and news channels (CNN, BBC World, Euronews). The Ice Hockey World cup games, the San Marino and Monaco Formula One as well as the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and AC Milan were among the top 10 programs viewed during the pilot.
Viewing patterns
In general, mobile TV users spent approximately 20 minutes a day watching mobile TV, although more active users watched between 30 to 40 minutes per session. Participants also watched mobile TV at different times than traditional TV peak hours.
Mobile TV was most popular while traveling on public transport to relax or to keep up to date with the latest news although it also proved popular at home for entertainment and complementing participants’ main TV watching.
Pricing models
The potential commercial benefits of mobile TV are clearly evident from this pilot with 41% willing to pay for the service. Pilot members were charged a monthly fee of 4.90 euros although half of those that took part thought 10 euros per month was a reasonable price to pay. Overall, users preferred a fixed pricing model although many were also interested in a pay per view model - i.e. buying access for specific content such as a football match or racing competition.
The pilot results also reveal the key requirements from consumers in order to use mobile TV services:
- Easy and intuitive service usability
- Good technical functionality and reliability
- Content that is also suitable for short period viewing
- Mobile phone functions must not be compromised by the TV application
“The Helsinki pilot reinforces our belief that mobile broadcast TV is a significant opportunity,” said Richard Sharp, Vice President, Rich Media, Nokia. “The message for the industry is clear: for mobile TV services to succeed we need relevant and compelling content, easy-to-use technology and reasonable and simple pricing plans. With these elements in place, consumer demand for mobile TV will follow.”
DVB-H technology allows television channels to be distributed effectively to mobile devices. It provides the best user experience in the mobile environment with excellent, broadcast quality picture, reduced battery consumption and wide range of channels (up to 55 channel are possible).
Additional information:
Finland’s mobile TV project:www.finnishmobiletv.com
Posted inFuture,News |
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