Just thought I'd mention that the February edition of the emerging trends infopack is out. This month's edition contains a few interesting stories that didn't make it up onto w2japan including a GPS chimp catching multiplayer mobile game and a keitai strap you customize to reflect your online profile.

The et infopack is a free monthly newsletter in PowerPoint format. You can check out past issues at http://emergingtrendsblog.blogspot.com/ and subscribe to receive the newsletter by email by sending a blank message to etsubscribe [at] worldforumgroup [dot] com

Labels: et infopack

Ever wanted to see the northern lights but couldn’t afford the trip to the Arctic Circle? “Live!Aurora for mobile” is the site for you!

“Live!Aurora” beams the sights of the aurora borealis from Alaska straight to your mobile. Due to the time zone difference, Japanese consumers can enjoy the sites of the aurora between lunchtime and evening. As well as being able to watch streaming video of the aurora, the site also offers video on demand and still images for download.

The site is a subscription service costing 315 yen per month ($2.60).

Labels: mobile content

Last week Infoplant Japan published the results of their latest consumer survey on mobile usage. Here are some highlights:

• The number of respondents who use the mobile internet every day was 82% (up from 77% in the same survey last year)

• Flat rate data subscribers use the mobile internet more, with 88% accessing mobile sites every day compared to 54% of non flat rate customers

• Flat rate data subscribers are also more likely to have downloaded games (78% vs 57%), ringtones (78% vs 63%), shopped on their mobile (44% vs 26%) and signed up to subscription sites (59% vs 36%)

• However, there was not a great difference between flat rate and standard subscribers when it came to entering competitions (94% vs 93%), or receiving coupons (54% vs 50%)

Labels: flatrate, surveys

I’ve posted about muPass in the past – it’s the technology that allows you to send ringtones from your mobile to compatible everyday devices such as cookers, baby mobiles and alarm clocks

Today, Sammy, the company behind muPass, announced that they will be releasing new muPass ringtones which they developed in collaboration with the Japan Accoustic Lab and the Japan Ringing Tone Laboratory (yes, it actually does exist – I checked!).

From tomorrow, visitors to the muPass mobile site will be able to download “stop the baby crying”, “dolphin therapy” and “wake up feeling great” ringtones, which the company claims are scientifically proven to work. Sammy is planning to release further ringtones in March including “get motivated” and “suppress that anger”. Personally, I look forward to the release of a “calm down it’s only a traffic jam” ringtone I can transfer to my car ;)

Labels: mupass, ringtones

In a press release today, Japanese telecoms company KDDI announced that the number of chaku-uta full (full track music) downloads on their au mobile network hit the 100 million mark last week. Proving the adage that you have to give to get back, KDDI revealed that 90% of the tracks were paid for, with the other 10% given away free in promotions etc.

au launched full track music downloads in November 2004 and achieved their millionth download in just one and a half months. Recently, the operator has been strengthening their music offering with more music-focused handsets and an iTunes-esque music download service called Lismo. KDDI revealed that it has seen 170,000 downloads from the Lismo PC music storefront which opened in May 2006.

In the same press release, the company announced that the number of chaku-uta (realtones) that have been downloaded on the network now exceeds 400 million.

Labels: mobile music

In Japan, mobile technology is finding its way into all manner of everyday objects such as vending machines, snowploughs, wristwatches and even your favourite pet’s food dish. As of yesterday you can add smoke alarm to that list.

The smoke alarm in question has been developed by Japanese company Keisoku Giken and adds a mobile cradle to your traditional smoke alarm to provide a mobile emergency alert system. When the detector senses smoke, it not only makes a sound but also dials a pre-registered number to alert the owner of the fire.

According to the company, the system could be used in temples and buildings of historic interest, unmanned warehouses, buildings under construction, restaurants and holiday homes. They also predict demand from families of elderly people living on their own. The alarm is now on sale in Japan for 16,800 yen ($140) but to use it you must purchase a separate handset and subscription.

Well I'm back from 3GSM 2007 in Barcelona and one of the clear highlights of the show yet again was DoCoMo's stand. The latest spring handset collection was on display including the Mitsubishi touchscreen clamshell and there were also demos of wallet phones and the natural disaster emergency message board.

I managed to catch 10 minutes with Shinya Yokota, a member of DoCoMo's international PR team, to record a podcast interview on some of the exciting handsets and services that DoCoMo have launched and are planning for the future. You can hear the podcast at the end of this link.

The World Forum Research team interviewed an interesting mix of people from the mobile sphere while we were at 3GSM. We'll be uploading the podcasts onto our new Friday Feed Blog and updating all this week. Check the site out to find out who else we talked to!

Labels: 3GSM, podcasts

In a few hours I'll be off to Barcelona to attend this year's 3GSM. I'll be doing podcast interviews at the Wireless World Forum booth in hall 2 floor 1 a16 for most of Tuesday and Wednesday. If you're passing make sure you drop by and say hi!

Hope to see you there!

Labels: 3GSM

It turns out my Japanese-themed Matsuri of the Mobilists was picked up and entered into another blog matsuri of Japanese-themed blogs on the topic of matsuri! In other words my matsuri is part of a matsuri about matsuri.

Confused? Just go check out the first ever Japan blog matsuri over at the excellent source of trivia, What Japan Thinks. Well done for setting this up, Ken. I'll definitely be contributing to this one in the future.

Labels: japan blog matsuri

Top 3 reasons why youth use mobile SNS…

1. To kill time

2. Because my friends do

3. To communicate with people I know

…and top 3 reasons they don’t:

1. Not enough time

2. Data charges too high

3. Mobile difficult to use

(According to a recent consumer study by Rakuten Research Japan)

Labels: mobile sns

“iMapFan” is a map service for imode which offers a range of services including a map-based search, car navigation and “I’m here!” emails. Today they launched a new service, “Map Messenger” - a map-based GPS chat application.

Members of the chat are displayed on the map with according to their GPS location and the application has three modes – centre on yourself, centre on the other parties or an automatic mode which zooms in and out of the map to provide the best view of all chat members. It also has an alert function which vibrates when someone on your buddy list is near.

The service is free to use if you are invited to a chat, but you have to be a subscriber to iMapFan’s premium service if you want to start your own chat. Subscription is 315 yen (£1.50) per month, which gives you access to all iMapFan’s premium features.

Labels: lbs

Inputting Japanese into your mobile is a bit more complex than your average T9 and there are various competing systems vying for a place on the latest handset models. Every so often gremlins can creep into the input system and these are quickly picked up by Japanese mobile enthusiasts and do the rounds of mobile review sites and bulletin boards.

According to this article, the latest “scandal” concerns the character 穂 or “ear” (of a grain rather than the body part), which I can safely say I have never had the need to type into my mobile in my life. When you enter the character using the input system on the Panasonic P903i, launched in November last year, the phone displays the character with a rogue extra dot in the top right hand corner.

Let this be a warning to any P903i owners wanting to discuss the condition of the ears of corn from their latest harvest!

Labels: text input

Nobody likes going to the dentist, but there have been a couple of dental-related mobile services recently released in Japan that make the whole ordeal that bit less painful.

First is “Let’s go to the dentist!”, a mobile dentist search. Not only can you search and find dental clinics all over Japan, you can also search for specialist dentists and view their locations on a map. After your visit, you can write a review of the whole ordeal to receive points which you can swap for goods or redeem as cashback on your next visit.

If you happen to have your own dental practice, “Pocket Reserver” by Nakatsu is the service for you. “Pocket Reserver” is all you need to mobilise your clinic – the system allows patients to search for free appointments and book from their mobile then automatically sends reminder and thank you messages. The basic system costs only 999 yen (£5) a month. Bargain!

Labels: dentists

Labels: carnival of the mobilists

I do quite a few postings on QR codes and really believe that they will be as just as big outside Japan (I’m also writing a report which is nearly complete on how they can be used).

Recently I got my hands on a Nokia N73 and I’ve been trying to install a QR code reader on the handset. Nokia posted their own barcode reader on the N73 section of their website but it wouldn’t install on my handset (and quite a few others’, judging by the support forums) and Nokia took it down pretty quickly. Today I finally found a reader that works!

The first clue was this article on Japanese mobile news site +D mobile. It’s a selection of questions sent in by readers on the recently released 705NK (aka the Japanese N73). One reader asks whether the handset can read QR codes (as many non-Japanese manufacturers seem to miss this quite important function off their lists) and the answer is, predictably, no. However, the article goes on to say that there is a QR code reader available, bizarrely, [on the N73 page of Nokia Taiwan (the English file name gives it away).

The application seems to be built by ScanLIFE, creators of the eZcode. I tried installing it on my UK N73 and it works fine (albeit with the slight hitch that the camera automatically starts when you open the lens cover – so you have to close that before you run the app). However, it's not as good as my current favourite reader (the QuickMark reader on my Nokia 7610).

Labels: qr codes

Mascots are a well-used gimmick in the Japanese operator’s marketing toolbox – and even better is a mascot whose name is a play on words. Thus we have the “au shika” (can be translated as “au deer” or “just au”), the now missing-in-action Vodaphone KK “shimakuris” (“stripy chestnuts” or “do something [i.e. call and text] again and again”) and the “DoCoMo dake” family (“DoCoMo mushrooms” or “only DoCoMo”).

Originally the DoCoMushrooms were a three-generation family of grandparents, parents and little kid mushrooms. But last February, the operator added a young female character to the lineup to great fanfare. Today DoCoMo announced that Ms. DoCoMushroom is to be given a love interest – and DoCoMo subscribers will get the chance to choose her new beau from a shortlist of potential suitors.

The candidates include “reggae boy”, “tearaway”, “wanderer” and “preppy” and subscribers can cast their vote on a dedicated i-mode site. DoCoMo are dismissive of any particular special plan for the promotion, but I wouldn’t be surprised if more was to be revealed on a certain special romantic event in February (and no, I don't mean 3GSM)…

Labels: docomo

Japan is unique in that consumer studies show that females use the mobile internet more than their male counterparts and you can see evidence of this in the large number of content sites aimed mainly at women. “Beauty Walker” and “howzy!BEAUTY” are a couple of examples I’ve posted in the past.

Add recently announced “Nail Club” to that list. “Nail Club” is a nail art simulator for the mobile. You start with a blank canvas (an unpolished nail) and create your own design using 72 colours, 300 types of airbrush, 200 holograms, 100 3D decorations and 300 gems.

An interesting point to note about “Nail Club” is the unusual way the creators are marketing the application. Instead of the usual monthly subscription model purchased through a mobile site (hey, it’s difficult to navigate those mobile menus when you’ve got nails like Edward Scissorhands), “Nail Club” will go on sale as a retail package in stores popular with young women in the trendy Tokyo areas of Shibuya, Shinjuku and Roppongi. The retail pack will contain a link to download and a serial number to unlock the application. It’s a good tactic to get the mobile application to exactly the audience who will use it.

Labels: mobile content