NTT DoCoMo's Natsuno has my favorite quote on this subject -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4306834/
"It's not about being Japanese. It's about knowing what people want and
how to sell it the right way."
I've conducted research on the meaning of the mobile Internet across
cultures (http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=11449), and have
concluded similar to Nick (although with slightly different words) that
attributing the success of specific mobile internet services, or the
mobile internet itself to Japanese culture is incorrect.
Here are the slides of my presentation at the November MoMo in Tokyo
(http://www.mobilemonday.jp/?page_id=13), which tries to dispel the
"culture" myth, as well as the "commuting" myth, and look at the true
sources of value in mobile marketing. Others like the "late to adopt
the PC Internet" and "small house" myths have also had their spotlight
on Keitai-L as well I believe.
Yes, Japan has an extremely rich culture, which makes it very easy to
use as an example for why something has or has not worked. And while
these speculations make for fun reading, they typically fall apart when
market research is conducted on them. At least that's been my
experience with them.
--
Philip Sugai, D.Sc., MBA
Associate Dean, Associate Professor of Marketing
Graduate School of International Management
International University of Japan
777 Kokusai Cho, Minami Uonuma-shi
Niigata, 949-7277 Japan
Office Tel/Fax: 81-(0)25-779-1400
Received on Mon Mar 26 06:06:58 2007