On the subject of Japan-Europe mobile internet interface members of the list
might be interested to know that I am presenting on the topic of Japanese
mobile internet at the Euroforum congress "Mobile Internet" Europe in
Cologne on 22nd November. See http://www.alatto.com/news.html for a link to
the presentation outline.
If anyone has any points they feel I should get across to the mobile
internet community in Europe regarding the Japanese experience , please feel
free to let me know.
John
-----Original Message-----
From: keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net
[mailto:keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net]On Behalf Of
mats@mobiledreams.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 3:33 PM
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Japanese applications to Europe? Not at the
moment...
I visited the "Mobile Internet Expo" in Paris last week, and I thought it'd
be interesting for some to hear that at least 2 Japanese companies were
there to introduce their mobile platforms: Mitsui/Bussan Systems Integration
showed their content service platforms and Aplix showed their JBlend
embedded Java solutions. JBlend had with them a range of J-Phone & DoCoMo
phones that surely opened some eyes in Europe!!
But I am unsure about some Japanese companies' international marketing
skills; the simple fact that few in management speak English makes expansion
difficult. One of the Japanese companies visiting Paris referred questions
regarding Europe to their American PR woman in San Francisco!
No pure content/application providers from Japan were exhibiting in Paris.
But of course lots of European content providers who have already introduced
their games etc with operators across the continent. In general, these guys
are surviving by focusing on simple applications that work over the already
popular SMS networks, and stay ready to launch & re-launch richer content as
GPRS is being introduced. There are already about 10 "pan-European" mobile
game providers. I'm not sure there's much space for many Japanese
content/application providers right now. Superior technical solutions like
JBlend yes, but the content channels seem pretty "full" for now - it's
rather the usability in the form of packet data (GPRS) and better handsets
that is lacking.
But I guess some Japanese content providers could suddenly show up "from
under the wings" of DoCoMo, if one of the "i-mode Europe" portals does open.
Another observation from Paris: As everybody knows, the mobile internet
industry in Europe is sort of in a "hibernating" mode right now. But some
content providers are obviously already making lots of money. When I got
here I was really surprised to see that there are tons of TV and radio
commercials for ringtones & characters (downloading over SMS)!
I miss my i-mode phone (& you guys)!,
/Mats Ulenius
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Received on Wed Sep 26 11:28:09 2001