Turning Japanese

I’ve been reading about Japan, the world’s biggest market for the mobile internet where, out of a population of 127 million, more than 100 million are mobile internet subscribers. The prediction is that what Japan does today, other countries and regions will be doing tomorrow.

Eighty per cent of Japanese phone users access email on their mobiles; 80 per cent have tried downloading music and something like 50 million people download TV shows onto mobiles regularly. Mobiles routinely have GPS and can even be used as electronic wallets which pay with a swipe in shops. The Japanese can pay bills and check into hotel rooms with their mobiles. Soon they’ll be using e-tickets on their phones instead of boarding passes at airports.

The Japanese’ willingness to use the range of services offered to them, as well as some of the world’s coolest handsets, has meant millions reaching for their mobiles instead of the fixed internet. The secret of the Japanese success lies in the fact that their technology makes it easy for people: its intuitive, attractive and high quality. When we have access to the same in the UK, the mobile internet here will go the same way as in Japan.