Mobile Contents Market in Japan

On Wednesday 9th July students enrolled in the 95-740 K6 Mobile Communications, Business and Commerce class run by Instructor Riaz Esmailzadah, were privileged to attend a video conference presented by Mr. Masahiro Kitagawa, the President and CEO of the Impress Comic Engine, and a Board member of Impress Publishing Group, based in Japan.  He spoke and invited questions about internet user research (mobile vs PC), mobile content market in Japan, Music and Comic, and mobile phone and iphone, all topics of great interest to today’s IT consumers.  The Group’s management philosophy is to share knowledge and excitement through innovation, and Mr. Kitagawa enthusiastically discussed many aspects of his company’s interests.  He said that in 2007 the number of internet users in Japan reached 88 million people. Among these, 73 use mobile or PC to connect to the internet.  For nearly 10 million people, their mobile is the only device used to connect to the internet.

For the period 2003 - 2006 the market growth of mobile content and commerce steadily grew from 422 billion Japanese yen ($A4 billion) in 2003 to 928 billion Japanese Yen ($A9 billion) in 2006, clearly demonstrating that consumers had embraced new technologies and were eager to keep abreast with new developments.

Mr. Kitagawa said that as information and communications technologies continue to evolve, goals formerly unattainable using analog technologies are now within reach. People can access all kinds of information quickly, cheaply, and reliably using their mobile devices. Mr. Kitagawa told the students that as we enter an age in which digital networks hold not just information but our collective knowledge and wisdom, anyone, anywhere, will have access to it either directly or indirectly.

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