72 Hours Over Tokyo

2005-08-19

You may think you have a cool mobile phone, but after the week I just spent in Tokyo I can assure you there are things out there you wouldn’t believe.

My role here at Rhino’s global headquarters of overseeing New Media requires me to travel quite a bit both domestically and internationally. I know, “poor me.” While it’s certainly cool to see parts of the world that many never get to, it’s not always what one might imagine.

My most recent trip to Tokyo had me landing in Japan late in the day on Tuesday and leaving early in the day on Friday – not exactly an extended stay. Throw in non-stop meetings starting Tuesday night, all day Wednesday and Thursday, and the attendant jet lag that comes with flying thousands of miles, and I think even the most jealous person would have to say that’s no vacation.

The purpose of my trip was to meet with a number of wireless carriers to discuss business opportunities, but I have to admit that my fascination with the Japanese market goes beyond pure business to education. Nothing helps stir the creative juices like seeing the future tangibly laid out in front of you.

The Japanese are two steps ahead of the U.S. where mobile technology is concerned, and as someone who is not usually easily blown away by technology, each trip to the land of the rising sun makes my jaw drop with next-generation toys and services that exist today, being used by millions of people.

Of all the meetings I had, I’d have to say my visit to the KDDI Studio was probably the most eye opening. KDDI is the second biggest wireless carrier in Japan with approximately 20 million subscribers. For those not familiar with what a wireless carrier is, it’s a company like Sprint, Cingular, Verizon, or T-Mobile.

The KDDI Studio is a four-story consumer destination located in the heart of the Harajuku section of Tokyo devoted to taking the mobile experience to highest level possible. They have a performance stage on the first floor, and then three upper floors of mobile handsets and services that allow subscribers to interact, learn, and immerse themselves in mobile technology, as well as purchase some of the coolest devices in the world today.

I don’t know what it is about the Japanese, but as a culture they have an innate design aesthetic that allows them to combine in equal measure both form and function. The handsets I saw were not only artistically beautiful, making me instantly want to ditch my Motorola Razr phone, but they came loaded with bells and whistles that wireless subscribers in the U.S. haven’t even seen, and won’t see for another 18 months to two years.

Full-motion menu screens, streaming video in high quality at broadband speed, GPS services to help guide you around the city with verbal commands issued from the handset, comprehensive restaurant guides, a mobile commerce solution with direct carrier billing allowing subscribers to buy things at hundreds of locations eliminating the need to carry cash, multimedia tools to help the user build really cool photo or video products they can send to friends, and many more. The mobile handset is no longer just a communication device to the Japanese; it’s a full service portable computer.

The exciting thing for me is that this is where things are headed here in the States. Try as hard as you want to fight it, but mobile technology is a gathering snowball that will eventually erupt into an avalanche. The mobile handset is the only device that we all carry with us from when we leave the house in the morning until we return home at night, and we all will begin to use it for things that 25 years ago would have sounded like science fiction.

It’s my goal over the coming year to write as much as I can about developments in the mobile landscape.