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.
Mobile internet in Japan reached nearly 83% penetration among mobile phone users, according to the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. 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!. The level reached only 8% in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
Mobile phone activities of young adult mobile phone users in selected countries in Asia-Pacific, Q4, 2008 (% of respondents):
- Surfing the internet: 9% in Hong Kong / 21% in Japan / 11% in Singapore / 14% in Asia-Pacific
- Sending/receiving e-mail: 8% HK / 72% J / 8% S / 13% A-P
86% of mobile phone users in Japan check their e-mail every day, but they are highly sensitive to spam, according to a survey by Point On Research. 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. (eMarketer, June 2009)
