FTC Warning to Ring Tone Firms
The antimonopoly regulator ordered five major Japanese record label and software companies Thursday to stop an illegal attempt to dominate the domestic market in mobile phone ring tones.
Sign of the Times
SHHHut Up Already!
Can design ride to the rescue against obnoxious cell-phone users? Jim and the incomparable Aaron Draplin think it can. As a public service, we introduce the reasonably polite SHHH, the Society for HandHeld Hushing: downloaded hundreds of thousands of times and featured in Wired News, on Australian National Radio and in dozens of other media.
Wireless Web Access up in 2004
Japan and the advancing markets saw the largest year-on-year growth among adults who used the Internet via a wireless connection. However, wireless population growth was largely driven by the two biggest Internet markets, the U.S. and Japan, fuelling 69 percent of user increase and adding an estimated 15 million and 11.6 million new wireless Internet users, respectively. Wireless Internet also gained some popularity in Western Europe, South Korea and Urban China.
Mobile Flat-Rate Voice Planned
Willcom Inc., Japan’s largest personal handy-phone system (PHS) company, said Tuesday it will introduce a flat rate for voice communication starting 1 May, becoming the first domestic wireless carrier to provide such service. It said the service will allow users to call fellow Willcom PHS users for unlimited minutes for 2,900 yen per month. Willcom, formerly DDI Pocket Inc., was bought out from KDDI Corp. by the U.S. investment firm Carlyle Group.
The UnBearable Cuteness of Kitty
Cute is a way of life for the Japanese regardless of age — and occasionally gender. Rather like George Lucas’ The Force, it permeates all life, binding consumer and corporate galaxies together. The undeniable mistress of power in this universe is Sanrio’s Hello Kitty. It was inevitable that Kitty would join in a fearful synchronicity of marketing with Apple to create a limited-edition Hello Kitty iPod mini.
Livedoor's Takeover Plans
Last Thursday, Takafumi Horie, billed as the guy who “has Japan talking,” was guest lunch speaker at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club (FCCJ) in Tokyo. There has been a lot of coverage lately of his company’s plans to acquire Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc. (Nippon Hoso), a long-established, old-line Japanese media company. WWJ is fast forming the opinion that, whatever the outcome of Livedoor’s takeover bid, the company may not have much of a mobile strategy — a fatal flaw, in our opinion.