ultraman80
join:2001-07-26
Saint Paul, MN
| reply to Derek_Wildstar
Re: DoCoMo: America Strikes Out
said by Derek_Wildstar:
FACT: The average Japanese (actually, 39 million as of Jan. 2001 and adding 1.3 million/month) subscribes to DoCoMo Keitai. Yes, there are other cell-phone companies, but only DoCoMo has i-mode, which gives the average Japanese access to the Internet. Why is this important? Because the average Japanese doesn't have room in his/her home for a big, honkin' computer AND monitor AND keyboard AND mouse, and the average Japanese can't afford more than one telephone line, to say nothing of the per-minute charges on that line they have to surf the 'Net (unlike the average American). In other words, it's like AOL for Japan, in that it is the only way most people access the Internet. DoCoMo is also a completely packet-switched network, and users are charged in fractions of yen per packet sent, regardless of whether it's voice or data.
Speaking from my experience living in Japan for 20+ years, I have to say I can't agree 100% with the above.
Yes, our houses are smaller than the average house in the U.S. but not to the point where we can't have a PC setup. Besides, most people who are worried about space will buy a laptop. As for internet access, we have T1 access at our workplace and schools and we do have access to broadband. Nifty-serve or YahooBB will gladly give you ADSL service for $30 a month and if you have to have multiple phone lines, its not expensive to have one especially if you compare it with a $100+ on your cell phone.
And we do have our share of people who are non-technical.
While I will certainly agree that commuting via public transportation gives incentive to use a cell phone, that doesn't hold true for people living outside of major metropolitan areas like Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka etc.
People in smaller cities can and will commute with their cars in these places because 1) public transportation is not that great (cities like Tokyo and Osaka are exceptions) 2) parking space is readily available and cheap
Yet the likelihood of a person using a cell phones in these cities are just as high.
There is a fundamental need to communicate with one another in Japanese society. If you look at all the occasions we are expected or obligated(mostly by tradition) to send a notice or card to your acquaintances this is very apparent, and the wide acceptance of cell phones is one of the symptoms of this.
The big thing before keitais (short for "keitai denwa" which means portable phone) was beepers with text messaging (they are called "pocket-bells" or "pokeberu" for short). Everybody from elementary school kids to office ladies were using it just like they do with SMS now. It came to the point where schools were banning kids from bringing them because they would be exchanging messages with one another (usually kids from other classes or schools) and disrupting class. And guess what? As these kids grew up to be twenty-somethings, cell phones and email became readily accessible and cheap.
I don't think that the average Japanese is technically inclined - no more so than the general public in the U.S. but people will incorporate just enough technology into their lives to benefit from it.
Many people I know who use the internet mainly for email don't feel the need for a full PC and internet capable cell phones fits their needs just right. If they want something more elaborate they can get a "pocket-board" like gizmo (a compact keyboard+screen gizmo for email).
Unlike PCs, these gizmos give you instant access to your email without having to wait for your PC to boot up or login. Besides, if you're going to be carrying it around anyway, why not have it do more things?
[text was edited by author 2002-01-30 03:09:18] |
