It is in Japan you see the most advances cellphones and computers, and the most marketing of mobile internet. All the trendiest of mobile communication, internet and graphical displays is available - in all shops! Even the coin phones have sockets for modems and ISDN!
Every young person in Tokyo walks around talking on their mobile phone, but the penetration is not higher than about 25%.
And certainly all the mobile data services exist there, but not so many people use them. But the market in Japan is growing very fast! We may read a lot about economical problems in Asia, but Japan is still a country with a high living standard and education.
The japanese phones are small, generally smaller than the phones in Europe, and has an excellent standby time, most of them are equipped with Lithium ion batteries. They have good graphics, which is becessary to show the japanese characters. Thanks to the good display it has been possible to incorporate address-book with maps, games, and other amusements.
However maybe the japanese have not advanced as far when it comes to menu functions, earlier they had one button for each function.
One of the most interesting phones is the "Doraefon", a PHS-telefon for children. It is shaped like the cartoon figure "Doramon", and can also be programmed to answer in the voice of the cartoon figure. An attractive function is that it is possible to find out where the phone is via fax (and thus trace your child!) within 100 meters! It also has voice activation, calendar, and games. Weight 82 grams, 550 hours standby or 6 hours talktime.
Pioneer also has a futuristic model with LCD-display and buttons, DP-212, which also contains calendar, games, and the possibility to draw a map! That is practical in Tokyo, where addresses are so complicated to find that you need a description. Weight 122 gram, 150 hours standbytime or 100 minutes talktime.
A popular standard model is Nippon Denso DP-194, with an animated figure who sleeps, watches TV, or walks around. In addition it has all functions, weight 89 gram, 180 hours standbytime or 100 minutes talktime. Or how about Peter Pan, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), which works as telephone, sends e-mail, pager, sends fax, calendar, clock and calculator? Data is entered with a special pen.
A fun offer from NTT DoCoMo is mobile karaoke - yes, sing along in the car!
You install a receiver and TV screen in the car, and you order and receive the melody via the cellular phone. Of course there is also a selection of english texts, so foreigners can sing along as well!
However I don't really understand how it goes together with safety; there is a "Driving Mode" where the answering machine says "I am out driving, so leave a message", just in order to avoid accidents.
Panasonic PHS 331P is a typical "kawai" ("cute") mobile phone for girls. continued...
The sales arguments are that it has several cute pictures, different colour in the shell, programmable ringing signal, and it is possible to store 300 numbers in the memory with symbols for beeper, mobile number, home number, or school number. Weight 71 grams, 600 hours standby or 6 hours talktime.
"Best in Comdex Japan" was the award for PHS 551S, with a touch-display, calendar and to-do-list, map drawing possibility, and data transmission. Weight 137 gram, 400 hours standby time, or 5.5 hours talktime.
The explosive growth in the mobile phone market started in 1994, when customers where allowed to buy phones - previously you had to rent. Asa tourist you still have to rent; it is not possible to buy a mobile phone in Japan as a tourist.
Japan is a very large market, and it has the worlds largest operator, NTT DoCoMo, with about 20 million customers. One other operator is J-Phone, which is one of Ericssons best customers for switches and base stations. They have over 2 millions of the 30 million japanese with mobile phones. J-Phone has gained market share by offering low prices, and was first with e-mail, "Skywalker", and free answering service, which is described as "an improvement in the phone manners of the public".
The japanese like accessories, and everyone has a carrying strap for their phone, and often the keys are also chained to the phone. Other popular things are blining antennas, just imagine all these youn girls talking in the evening darkness with a red- or blueflashing antenna! There are also blinking figures to hang on the phone, and metallic self-adhesive stickers which are supposed to protect against radiation. And the standard line of coloured shells.
It is considered very important in Japan with good manners, and you are supposed to turn the phone off in the cinema and in the restaurant. One function called "manner mode" increases the sensitivity of the microphone, so you can whisper but be heard anyway. A whole page in NTT DoCoMo's catalogue is used to educate the customer about manners.
The digital standard is called PDC, and is similar to GSM in the switches, but D-AMPS in the radio interface. From the beginning 800 MHz was used, but they had to expand to 1500 MHz a long time ago. There are also some analogue systems.
Japan also has PHS-Systems. They were intended to give limited mobility, that is no handover to another cell when you move.
However this did not become a big success, the customers instead paid the extra yen needed to get a real mobile phone. The PHS operators are now asking to install real handover, to get full mobility. The PHS systems offer data speeds of up to 32 kbps today.
The operators DDI and IDO are building cdmaOne, to replace their analogue networks. The telephone manufacturers are of course developing combinations of PDC and analogue, to replace the old systems. But NTT DoCoMo can by their strong position order alreday during the development stage, and be ahead of other operators who have to wait until the equipment is ready. That is why DDI and IDO choose existing 800 MHz cdma infrastructure, and open technology and as a bonus they get a possibility to roaming with USA.
PDC exists only in Japan, but NT DoCoMo can anyway offer roaming almost anywhere in the world. The customers simply rent a telephone which works in USA (through GTE) or a GSM phone (through D-1) for Europe. The calls are automatically diverted from the japanese number! Convenient, but not especially cheap.
The japanese are somewhat disappointed that PDC did not catch on in other parts of the world, and they are now working to make IMT-2000 with wideband cdma an open standard. Japan is at the moment the only country to say that they definetly want IMT-2000. Japan also has a satellite phone system, which covers all of Japan. The PDC operators cover 98% of the population, but Japan is so hilly that satellite is needed up in the mountains.
It is not especially expensive to have a mobile phone in Japan. The largest difference to Sweden is that private subscriptions or prepaid does not exist. So you have to pay a fixed fee per month. There are good phone which do not cost anything, but if yo want the more advanced models you have to pay 3000-8000 yen (180-5480 SEK). The most advanced computer-like phones cost over a thousand SEK.
A better choice is probably to pay 3800 yen/month (SEK 230) but instead pay much less per minute, 60 yen (SEK 4.00) daytime, half during nighttime, and only 12 yen/min (SEK 0,70) during weekends. If you pay as much as 5100 yen/month (SEK 310) you make calls for 30-40 yen/min during daytime (SEK 2.00-2.60), 20 yen/min nighttime, (SEK 1.20) and 15 yen/min (SEK 0.90) weekends. The monthly fee becomes lower after the first year, you get a discount for being a loyal customer. These prices are typical for J-Phone and their competitiors. NTT DoCoMo charges a startup fee of SEK 180, and slightly higher per minute prices.
It is impossible to call freephone 0120 numbers from a mobile phone, they can only be called from fixed lines and payphones. You also have to sign a contract with a international operator (for example the large KDD) to make international calls.
Even the japanese are worried for radiation. This accessory disconnects the ordinary antenna. The little bear lights up when a call is in progress.
Pioneer(!) DP-212 with possibility to draw maps. It is needed in Tokyo, since the streets usually don't have street names or house numbers.
Doreafon, a childrens phone designed like a popular cartoon figure.
A "kawai" (cute) phone, Panasonic PHS 331P.
Nippon Denso, J-Phone, has an animated figure in the screen.
A very popular accessory is the carrying strap, here on a J-Phone, where keys can also be attached. The antenna is foldable and can be extended like a radio antenna.