Your World Today

au KDDI (Japan’s second largest cell phone operator) and Yamaha have collaborated to produce cell phones geared for musicians. Among the various instruments unveiled at the au Design Project x Yamaha mobile exhibition, the ‘Band in My Pocket’ cell phone impressed me the most. This is the first time I witness Yamaha’s “humming” sound technology, which they already incorporate in some of their existing musical instruments.

This phone comes with a variety of attachments to allow the owner to switch between flutes, harmonicas, trumpets, etc.

Kilian-Nakamura.com notes additional musician/DJ mobile phone instruments that were unveiled at the exhibit, including a folding DJ scratch pad and synthesizer, a string-instrument cell phone, air-drum sticks, and keyboard instrument.

Mobile phone innovation is no big thing in Japan. Fierce competition by the three main mobile service providers (Docomo, KDDI, and Softbank) in the trend-loving Japanese market had already produced technologies years ahead of anything we have in North America or Europe (let alone Canada’s dinosaur rate of adoption of new mobile technologies). Japanese consumers today use their mobile phone as an all-in-one lifestyle device. Phones are used as mini-TVs, email/internet devices, credit cards, RFID swipe cards, and for virtual gaming to name a few.

The early July launch of the iPhone in Japan (same day as its launch in Canada) was preceded by speculations of poor uptake in a market where the ‘wow’ factor of the iPhone is eclipsed by existing technologies. (A previous blog post about the iPhone’s in Japan can be found here). However, early stats seem to show that the exclusive provider (Softbank) is raking in subscriptions that may have boosted their market ranking from number three (behind KDDI) to number two for the month of July.

However, skeptics still believe that the uptake is only a small percentage of the market, most likely comprised of “gaijin” (foreigners/outsiders) and Apple enthusiasts. They predict that the growth is unsustainable and will not crossover into mainstream Japanese consumers due to the lack of gadgetry in the iPhone (e.g. to use the phone as a charge card or watch Japanese digital television during daily commute).

It is almost depressing to talk about cell phone technologies while I sit in Canada, unable to blog through my mobile phone due to crippling data usage rates that restrict non-corporate consumers from shedding the tethers of connectivity and relying on the chains of home/office networks to communicate and innovate.

Japan’s oligopoly resulted in constant competition to provide consumers with better cheaper mobile technologies, while Canada’s big three (Rogers, Bell Aliant, and Telus) appear to have a silent price-fixing agreement. High cell phone and data rates in Canada are preventing entire industries from taking off due to low uptake of cellphone internet usage. Mobile internet commerce, application, and game development for the cell phone industry in Canada is near obsolete.

When was the last time you saw a job posting seeking “mobile application developers” in Canada?

Related posts:

1. Changing Westernized Habits of Japanese Consumers with Food Security PSA
2. Nova Scotia Pomegranate Phone: Great Viral, but is it effective?
3. Canadian Young Inventor Redefines Online Shopping With New Personal Payment Device