* The 2009 'Buzz Awards' *

It often seems that new gadgets in the western techno-sphere create a lot of buzz and excitement. However, when entering the Japanese market this often over-exaggerated buzz tends to fall off as consumers turn to pre-established brands and proven systems....So let's see what's in-line to break into the Japanese market for 2009.

Here are the five top 'Buzz Awards' technologies the coming year will offer;

1. Apple netbook
An Apple Mac netbook – a small, cheap, basic laptop for essential web, media, and work applications – is the biggest rumoured announcement expected this week at Apple's final Macworld expo.

2. Google phones
Think the iPhone owns the licence on mobile internet surfing? What about a phone with software from Google? The internet search giant has created its very own mobile phone operating system, called Android, and this year handset makers will put it to work in several new phones with touchscreens and keyboards. Google-based phones are designed to be internet-friendly, especially for online tools including Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar and Maps on the go.

3. Digital radio
After years of planning and replanning, digital radio promises to offer clearer sound, better reception in crowded, urban areas, and some services more commonly associated with TV: the ability to rewind broadcasts (to hear the name of a song, for example), to download tracks, or to transmit text or basic pictures, be they a scrolling news ticker or an album cover. Digital radio technology will also let stations broadcast more than one channel simultaneously, offering regular programming on one channel, for example, and a live concert on another.

4. Windows 7
While making important strides in many areas, Windows Vista failed to inspire mass adoption among PC users. Windows 7, formerly known as Blackcomb and Vienna, promises to have none of the compatibility issues of Vista that saw some programs, printers and other peripherals fail. Extra features will also come with the software suite, including a new task bar called the Superbar with shortcuts to commonly used programs. New features will be added to the Control Panel, including Gadgets, and the software will support speech, touch and handwriting input for a future generation of computers.

5. Nokia's touchscreen hero
Nokia has taken a long time to catch up to the touchscreen trend. The Nokia N97 sports a 3.5in (8.89cm) touchscreen surrounded by three buttons, with a full QWERTY keyboard underneath the sliding screen. It also sports a 5-mega pixel camera, 32GB of built-in memory, built-in GPS, longer battery life, as well as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3.5G connections.

So that's the round up for the 2009 'Buzz Awards'.... now let's wait and see what the Japanese consumer thinks of them...

Australian Chris

Which celebrity are you....? ? ! !

I always thought I looked like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or even Mark Wahlberg until I tried out Kao Cheki ...then unfortunately I found out that is not the case....

Kao Cheki or face check, translated into English, is a mobile phone website where users can take a headshot of themselves with their phone camera and send it into the website, where based on image recognition technology, users then receive a response showing their top three celebrity lookalikes.....And that's where I found out that I don't look like Tom, Brad or Mark.....

As this novelty site has proven to be quite popular, the makers of Kao Cheki, J-Magic, has followed it up with another interesting and creative simulation website, but with a twist.

Introducing Shoubu Co-de Cheki.

“Shoubu” is a Japanese word that means “victory or defeat” or “contest” but can amazingly also be used to describe an item of clothing a woman wears in the hopes of landing the "perfect boyfriend" (for example, “shoubu shatsu” would be a girl’s best shirt, and "shoubu pantsu" would be a girl's best......). And “co-de” is the Japanese way of saying “coordinate,” as in an outfit. So this new website requires users to send in the same headshot, but in return suggests what kind of outfit is most suitable and attractive to their face. There are over 10 different responses from “feminine” to “natural cool” so the site caters to all.

The site, is currently free until December 26th and is accessed through the Kao Cheki site.

...I wonder who Chris Schoenwald (blog co-author) looks like...??


Australian Chris

Life's New Remote Control as it Evolves...

Well as we have covered in recent posts the mobile apps frenzy is certainly upon us. It seems these days you can’t watch an hour’s worth of television without the iPhone commercials dazzling you with all of the neat functions and download applications you can easily have at your fingertips. However, the iPhone is not the only mobile with such capabilities and interesting applications available for download. Google’s Android has also been leading the charge in terms of releasing many applications for users to start having fun with.

As such, with the rise in app it would only be a matter of time for smart company’s to realize that they too can leverage themselves through the development and release of their own software. Enter into the fray Visa with its new Android based app which enables select customers to receive card transaction updates, be able to keep track of spending, get deals and savings, and a “locator” service to help users redeem the special offers and find ATMs that accept Visa cards. Visa even has a special video promoting this app. This is all U.S. based at present but if things catch on one can expect this type of application to really take off in other parts of the world. I am sure there are a lot of other companies looking to establish and/or refine their company/customer relations. This app based method offers a seamless integration of the company’s values and offers direct to customers.

I would say that this is further proof, of how this mobile device of ours is moving away from the traditional uses of phoning and even emailing and more towards that ‘life remote control’ it has been envisioned as becoming for so long. It is our belief at Mobile CRM Japan that the clever company’s are the one’s positioning themselves for this inevitable transformation of the mobile into that futuristic and high powered device we will not only want but need to function within our daily lives. Exciting times ahead for those prepared.

Canadian Chris

A virtual partner for females: "The perfect boyfriend"

Do you spend your time day dreaming about your perfect boyfriend and your perfect future wedding...? Do you spend your time with your girlfriends complaining about how men are so childish, inconsiderate, and lazy..? Is it hard to find the perfect guy? The perfect guy who is kind, caring, understanding, intelligent, is a gentlemen and.......(the list goes on....)

Once again, this is not an infomercial....

In October, I previously posted about a mobile phone service featuring virtual Japanese wives. Now, a similar service is available to single Japanese woman who want a virtual Japanese boyfriend since finding one in real life with all the qualities above maybe a little difficult. Kaoru Souma , Shun Aiba, Tukasa Ayakawa and Ryuuji Ayakawa are the attractive single virtual guys created by the team at Web-Kare (web boyfriend). An interesting note, if you take a closer look you will see that the virtual boyfriends tend to be your 'boy next door' image and not really macho or muscular. Apparently, these types are not so attractive to Japanese women.

Like other social networking services and dating simulation sites, the site offers personal profiles, miniblogs, bbs and direct messaging. The service has been quite successful and has grown to more than 20,000 Japanese women in their twenties and thirties having registered for the service.

As I shrug my shoulders and put my hands in the air..I say...."What will be next....virtual motivational coaches..??!!"

Australian Chris

Blackberry Bold: The Next 'Gotta have it' in Japan?

The rise of the ‘smartphone’ is upon us. What I am referring to of course are the computer like mobile devices which are equipped with so many functions that essentially mirror that of one’s personal computer. We have already covered Apple’s iPhone in a few articles already and today I would like to take a look at RIM (Research in Motion) the Canadian based company which has been tearing up the North American markets for the past few years through the sale of its ever popular Blackberry line.

RIM entered into a partnership with NTT Docomo to distribute the Blackberry back in 2006 to mainly corporate users and has it is still going. Many questioned the move at the time as one of the main features of the Blackberry was its ‘always on feel’ which was created through its ability to connect seamlessly to office email networks and in effect sync that data with the Blackberry. To be honest though, this feeling of ‘always on’ has been a staple here within Japan for quite sometime. Maybe not in the same capacity as what the affectionately coined ‘Crackberry’ has been doing, but in essence the notion of being able to connect with whoever you need to, whenever you want was not a new novelty. In addition, at the time the move was also maligned for the fact that that the device didn’t even have Japanese input language capabilities.

Well, fast forward back to 2008 and you’ll find that RIM has been putting to rest a number of naysayer concerns and pessimistic outlooks for the Blackberry in Japan. It looks as though the brain trust at RIM were simply biding their time and craftily entering a foreign market one step at a time in order to get a better feel. Something a lot of other companies ought to do before diving head first into unknown waters. The initial market entry appeared to be mainly cautionary in nature with the testers being directed at mainly foreign corporate business world. Now, however the devices are being used in over 1200 foreign based companies and the Blackberry is starting to gain some traction. The toughest test is yet to come however and some see it not so far away.

With the confirmation that their newest device Blackberry Bold will be sold in Japan in 2009 and reading excerpts of comments made by officials at Docomo, it looks like the Blackberry is gearing up for battle on a new ground within Japan. This device was quoted as being “the most powerful smartphone responding to the needs of both business users and personal users," said Kazuhiko Kushima, managing director of NTT DoCoMo Solution Business. Additionally, DoComo has already begun to stimulate the demand of personal users by starting the "BlackBerry Internet Service," which allows users who don't have a dedicated server to access the Internet through the BlackBerry. It has also been stated that they would like to shift the ratio of users from corporate to individual down to 7:3 or 6:4. All signs point towards increasing the marketing efforts towards individual users.

Bold words and actions, but obviously Docomo sees a lot of potential in not only this device but the management at RIM to guide this venture to new reaches of profitability in this ever challenging and fickle Japanese market. It will be interesting to see how well this Canadian based company fares. However, judging from its initial positioning strategies and coupling those with the emergence of the smartphone market here in Japan the Blackberry could become the next must have.

As a side note, it is refreshing to see a successful Canadian based company challenging markets outside the confines of North America and doing so in a calculated and cool way. I will not hide my enthusiasm over that fact and look forward to reading more positive news from the mobile makers of the great north.

Canadian Chris

Nokia: It maybe be a major player but can it satisfy the Japanese consumer?

In the previous post by Chris Schoenwald, he raised a good point in regards to his Nokia phone. And as I too own a Nokia phone, I definitely understand his torment and pure frustration as a result of it's unfriendly and pain-stakingly slow programming and transition times....Therefore, it leads me to wonder about Nokia's intended entry into the Japanese keitai market as cellphone service provider, a mobile virtual network provider (MVNO) as early as February next year.

The Yomiuri Shimbun learned on Friday November 22 2008, that Nokia will start its own cell phone service under its high-end brand Vertu. Vertu is known for its extremely expensive handsets that are often designed with titanium, gold, jewels and crystal. The brand is sold in about 50 regions and markets. Vertu's handsets also come with a "concierge key" that provides the handset's owner 24-hour service that can fulfill various personal requests, such as flight, hotel and restaurant reservations. And with a retail price of between 1.6 million yen and 5 million yen and its first outlet being opened in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza area, it is definitely targeting higher-end affluent consumers...well I guess I won't be buying one then!

Analysts say, Nokia's entry could shake up competition in the domestic market. But, with the handsets not being compatible with Docomo's i-mode Internet service or providing one-seg terrestrial digital TV reception, which is pretty much the Japanese mobile users staple keitai diet, I really question the appeal then...

Despite that, it will become the first handset manufacturer to provide cell phone services in Japan, which is dominated by three main carriers--NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Mobile Corp. Therefore, I take my hat off to Nokia but it doesn't mean I will be buying another one anytime soon...

Australian Chris

iPhone: Only fun and games?

Today, as I fiddled with my Nokia mobile and gave myself another reason as to why I will never buy another phone made by that company, (I could have a whole post outlining those reasons) I had a thought race across my mind. What about the iPhone as my next mobile? As most people on the planet are aware, the iPhone has been on the darling of the mobile industry. Recently, the applications designed for it surpassed 10,000! That could translate into a lot of useful programs which could potentially simplify things for a busy professional. Now, I have heard a lot of grumblings about the iPhone from front line business professionals in relation to its lack of programs purely designed for their use. These individuals have lambasted the iPhone for being a fun toy but of little use in their working day. This post in effect, will be dedicated to delving somewhat deeper into this matter.

A quick search over at Techcrunch certainly did not lend support to the notion of the iPhone being only fun and games. Here is the list of the top paid apps for the iPhone:

Top Paid Apps (Overall):

Koi Pond
Texas Hold’em
Moto Chaser
Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart 3d
Super Monkey Ball
Cro-Mag Rally
Enigmo
Pocket Guitar
Recorder
iBeer

Hmm…I can’t really fathom just how useful iBeer or Pocket Guitar is to the busy executive but I could stand corrected. For a complete listing of other rankings in terms of paid and non paid top application downloads please check out the Techcrunch article.

Upon a second search, I found a site which outlined a number of different business apps for the iPhone which could definitely boost the performance of individual professionals and in essence their respective companies.

I have compiled a basic list of the apps covered in this article:

Oracle Business Indicators, Splash Money, HyperOffice
Readdle Docs, Quickbooks, Netnewswire
Salesforce, NuevaSync, WinAdmin

I assume that if there are over 10,000 apps now there must be more than the aforementioned in relation to pure business minded programs. Some of above are heavy hitters with the power and effectiveness to really make a difference for someone committed to harnessing it within their enterprise.

So, in effect what I have gleaned from my five minute search is that yes the iPhone does have apps out there. Perhaps it’s the proliferation of useful apps like ‘iBeer’ or ‘Super Monkey Ball’ which damage the iPhone’s image as a business tool or maybe more time is needed for the business applications to catch on and gain traction within the professional community. Either of the two or possibly both explanations could explain the overall malaise of business professionals towards the iPhone thus far. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and where Apple desires to position the iPhone in the future.

Canadian Chris