Tokyo : a use specific to the city
In Tokyo, mobile telephony has been widely used for several years by Japanese people who are not put off by the technology and who are exposed to public transport times of almost three hours a day. No text messages but directly from the mail in wires close to the chat, Japanese people all have 3G phones. Besides, without 3G, phone does not work there.
In addition to instant messaging, which is facilitated by easy typing (the combination of a sentence is made easier by the very structure of the language), there are numerous applications available on the mobile phone. Television is already fully in place on mobile phones, using a broadcasting system similar to DTT, which will soon be available in France. We follow NHK in 16:9 with a perfect quality, even in buildings with a mini-antenna. Mobile phones have adapted to these multiple uses and are totally standardized on an interface that has become essential in Japan. Handling with a single finger, clamshell laptop in most cases and wide screen. Here, the Iphone did not really break through. Too far behind local usage and totally disconcerting ergonomics considering the usual practices.
Which applications ?
Currently, the main application is e-mail, which replaces text messages, but there is no big difference with France. The most popular applications are linked to geolocation. Practically all mobile phones have a GPS. This research is completed by the use of tags. Many products or posters have a printed tag. An application photographs the tag and geolocate the phone. The user can thus know the way to a show chosen on a poster in a bar, for example, with a single click, he has his itinerary.
They can also take part in contests related to consumer products by directly accessing a defined web page.
