Japanese Mobile Moves Online

JUNE 11, 2009

E-mail is important, too.

For many years the mobile market in Japan has served the rest of the world as a model of the future of mobile development. If that holds true, expect more mobile users online.

According to the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, mobile Internet in Japan reached nearly 83% penetration among mobile phone users.

A total of 75.1 million users in Japan accessed the Internet via mobile phones in 2008.

One of the most popular mobile phone activities for young adults in Japan was e-mail, with 72% of users ages 8 to 24 reading and answering e-mails on the go.

Japan’s culture of connectivity pushed penetration far above the 13% average for Asia-Pacific, according to a Synovate study sponsored by Microsoft Advertising, MTV and Yahoo!.  Marketers should be cautious about tapping into this tech-savvy demographic with tried-and-true e-mail marketing, however.

According to a survey by Point On Research, 86% of mobile phone users in Japan check their e-mail every day—but they are highly sensitive to spam. Mobile spam was seen as unsettling by more than 85% of respondents surveyed by goo Research.

The same survey found that 33% of those users received at least one piece of spam in their mobile e-mail each day.
Mobile marketing campaigns should take a more personal route. “The ability to stimulate user action will be the key to success in mobile advertising,” said Yeunsil Lee, an ROA Group analyst.