I have been following the wearable computing market at a distance for
several years and I keep wondering, do we have to buy five pairs of shoes
that contain a hard disk or do we just always wear the same shoes? I am not
an expert on fashion but wearing the same shoes everyday is not cool. Now
someone is probably going to say that we will have shoes and other clothes
that contain portals for these hard disks, buttons, and displays. This may
happen but it will take many years for these kinds of standards (size of
portals, etc.) to appear. And the first wearable computing users will not be
the first I-mode users. The first I-mode users are young people who are not
computer geeks whereas the first wearable computing users will be geeks. One
of the reasons that I-mode has succeeded is because there are a lot of
contents that are designed for young people; people who are not big users of
the fixed-line Internet and who are more interested in "reach" than
"richness."
Jeffrey L. Funk
Associate Professor
Kobe University
Graduate School of Business
2-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657 Japan
telephone and fax: 81-78-803-6913
home phone: 81-798-74-2440
e-mail: funk@rose.rokkodai.kobe-u.ac.jp
mobile phone: 090-4906-3113
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrea Hoffmann [SMTP:ah@anima.de]
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2000 10:55 PM
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: Interview
Hi,
> Doh! I didn't think anyone would read that...
Kind of an understatement Ren - but I like you for that!
Actually, the whole newsletter (first ever issue I think!) which
contained the interview is interesting and has useful information
about the wireless Japan, so I will forward it here, including
some info on how to subscribe to it on the bottom of the mail...
Cheers,
Andrea
--
Andrea Hoffmann -- Editor in Chief -- hoffmann@westcyber.com
Japan Mobile Information -- http://westcyber.editthispage.com
-----Forwarded Message-----
From: Japan E-C newsLINE [mailto:japan-ecn@onebox.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2000 11:20 AM
Subject: Japan E-Commerce newsLINE - Aug. 2000 edition
***THE JAPAN E-COMMERCE newsLINE***
"Net News From Japan"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Issue # 1: August, 2000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome to the first issue of the Japan E-Commerce
newsLINE, designed to keep your finger on the pulse of
Japan's E-Commerce world. As Japan catches up to the US
in the realm of the Internet, a myriad of opportunities
are opening up to globally-minded firms looking for
dynamic new markets to enter. The Japan E-Commerce
newsLINE's mission is to become a resource which
can be used to assess the e-commerce landscape in Japan
while planning how to best take advantage of these
opportunities.
The August issue starts with a roundup of politics and the economy,
with commentary on how, despite the dampening effect of
recurring recession, Japan is emerging from its position as a
global economic anomaly and moving in the direction of becoming
a "normal" country. Then we move on to the very hot
topic of wireless Net access in Japan, where
14 million users are accessing the Net via their cell phones.
Renfield Kuroda, an expert on this topic who works for the Tokyo
branch of a major American investment bank, shares his insights
on the wireless Net in Japan in the J E-C newsLINE
interview. The Facts and Figures section is next, with the key
Internet stats from Japan, followed by Market Intelligence
At-A-Glance, an assemblage of news briefs designed to keep
you current on major market developments. Then, for those
readers with an eye on the future, Soothsayer gazes
into his crystal ball and prognosticates on things to
come in Internet business in Japan. Finally, you'll find links
to other informative Web sites in the Links section.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This month's topics:
1. Roundup of politics and the economy
2. Spotlight on wireless Internet access - DoCoMo hits a
home run with i-mode
3. Interview with Renfield Kuroda, wireless Net expert
4. Facts & Figures
5. Market Intelligence At-A-Glance
6. Soothsayer
7. Links
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*********************************
Round up politics and the economy
*********************************
Japan is in the midst of a decade-long struggle to redefine its
economy and pull itself out of the doldrums it has been mired in
since the bubble economy imploded and the boom years came to
an abrupt halt. Skeptics may point to the June elections, in
which the LDP maintained its tenuous hold on power, and con-
clude that, despite all the talk, nothing in Japan is changing.
Yes, the LDP is still in power for now (thanks to the dispro-
portionately high voting clout of conservative rural voters),
and it has been difficult to spawn new firms in Japan, given
the shortage of talented people needed to start and run
them and the buffeting effect of recurring recession. By no
stretch of the imagination has economic reform come easily to
Japan.
On the flip side, however, the strong performance
of the surging Japan Democratic Party in the elections lends
credence to the idea that a real two-party system is emerging
in Japan. A look beneath the surface of things reveals that
the foundation for real change is being built as the
underpinnings of the "old economy" gradually erode, and
inertia, tradition, and the power of special interests give
way to pressure generated by the new spirit of reform.
Japan is a country in the slow process of moving away
from its status as global anomaly and becoming more like
the rest of the world. Cross-shareholding is fading,
weaker firms are left to sink or swim, excess capacity is
being shed, and the once almighty bureaucratic elites
are losing their "deity" status. Following in the wake of
the successes of a handful of true "New Japan" pioneers,
an intrepid band of successful entrepreneurs are making their
mark, and they are inspiring other talented people to
take the plunge and help build the "new" economy.
The Japanese government recently passed a serious test of
its commitment to change and ability to sustain the
momentum generated by recent reforms when it refused the
easy choice of bailing out the embattled retailer Sogo Co.,
allowing the firm to go bankrupt. Under heavy political pres-
sure from the usual groups to prop up the ailing department
store chain, the government showed its mettle, sending a
message to other struggling firms that the days of government
charity in the name of "harmony" and "stability" are over.
The recent, huge success enjoyed by entrepreneurs such as
Masayoshi Son (Softbank), Yasumitsu Shigeta (Hikari Tsushin),
Tadashi Yanai (discounter Fast Retailing) and Yoshihiko
Miyauchi (leasing giant Orix Corp) is the most visible
manifestation of the move away from the traditional
Japanese economy (large oligopolies, networks of expensive
but reliable supplier relationships, and a byzantine dis-
tribution system) and a shift towards a new system fueled by
innovation, drive and talent. As their collective success grows,
Son, Shigeta and the other "young turks" are revered as
icons by many of Japan's younger generation, who dream of
following in their footsteps rather than grinding their way
up the corporate ladder in a traditional Japanese company.
No longer do top college graduates flock automatically
the handful of blue chip firms as they did in the past.
Start-ups and foreign firms offering stock options are
now able to compete for top talent, and more and more,
talented young people who have already been in the workforce
for several years are entering new business fields, leaving
established companies and comfortable salaries to join or
create fledgling "new economy" firms where meritocracy
trumps seniority.
Though the Japanese economy is still struggling with stag-
nation, Japan's "Internet Tsunami" (as Merrill Lynch recent-
ly referred to the nation's dynamic Internet growth) is
the real ray of hope at present. Analysts are predicting
a record number of Japanese IPOs this year - up to 300. The
smashing success of wireless Net access means that there is
no great gap between Internet "haves and have nots" - every-
one with a cell phone can be on the Net. Cross-border mergers,
new forms of finance, and the commercial exploitation of the
Internet are all being introduced to Japan as it integrates it-
self into the global economy. Things are changing, and
opportunities abound for savvy firms with the ambition and drive
to seek them out.
**********************************************************
Spotlight on wireless Internet access
**********************************************************
*FROM UNWIRED TO WIRED, THE WIRELESS WAY*
While it is generally acknowledged that Japan(though rapidly
catching up)has always lagged behind the US when it came to
fully embracing the Internet, there is one Internet niche
where Japan is leaving the US in the dust - namely, Web
access via the cell phone. The big success story
here is NTT DoCoMo's i-mode wireless access service (a
packet-switching system for which users pay only for data
transferred) launched in February, 1999, and now boasting
over 9 million subscribers. Japan's notoriously high-priced
phone and ISP connection fees seem to have made Japan a
testing ground for what promises to be the wave of the
future - wireless Internet access via handheld devices.
*THE "WHY" OF WIRELESS IN JAPAN?*
It's really a matter of environment. First of all, the
Japanese love their cell phones, which now outnumber fixed lines
in Japan. Then there is the combination of the relatively
low penetration rate of PC's in Japanese
households, high PC costs, and the world's highest telecom and
ISP fees (over twice the US rate). Toss into this mix the fact
that in Japan, cell phone users enjoy "always on" access
throughout the country (no destructive telecom standards war is
being fought here in the land of harmony), and you have what
amounts to a nice little wireless technology "petri dish".
Housewives, students and salarymen are all jumping on the band-
wagon, shedding their wires, and going wireless on the train,
in the coffee shops, and in the streets.
********************************************
WIRELESS WEB A LA MODE - NTT DoCoMo's I-MODE
*********************************************
NTT DoCoMo's i-mode has quickly become the 800 pound
gorilla of the wireless world in Japan, running roughshod over
the competition, DDI and IDO (after all, it IS NTT).
I-mode users do not need to establish an Internet connection
every time they want to send an e-mail or check the weekend
weather forecast for the beach - as long as the phone is left
on they are online at the touch of the "i" button, and anyone
who has accessed the Net via other handheld devices with modems,
requiring a new dialup connection each time the user wants to
go online, can tell you what an advantage that is.
For a basic fee of US$3 a month, i-mode subscribers have menu
access to all the official DoCoMo content providers, as well as
to thousands of "unofficial" providers not appearing on the
menu. Content providers charge users a fee for accessing their
content, and DoCoMo takes a 9% cut of the action. With a Net
connection speed of 9.6 kilobits per second, i-mode users can't
download high-quality music or Webcasts of TV shows yet(300-kbps
should be possible by next year), but they can send e-mail, make
plane reservations, check their bank balances, shop, and
download news and weather reports, among other things.
******************************
Interview with Renfield Kuroda
******************************
This month, Renfield Kuroda, who lives in Tokyo and covers the
wireless Internet industry for a major Wall Street financial
firm (which must remain nameless due to restrictions placed on
him by the firm's legal department) was gracious enough to agree
to an interview with the Japan E-C newsLINE. In our discussion,
Ren shared a lot of insights into the current state of Internet
business and where it's going in the near future.
Q. What is your background, and how did it lead you to your
present job in Japan?
A.I came to Japan immediately after graduating UC Berkeley, via
the JET Programme. After JET, I joined a small Japanese design
firm to help start Digital Media Group, spending 1 year there
doing various internet/digital media things. I joined my present
firm in June 1998, initially in the Japanese Language Engin-
eering Group, doing I18N work, mostly for web technologies.
I moved to E-Business Technologies where I am presently in
engineering and strategy, focused on wireless Internet, split-
ting my time between building things, finding new things to
build, and finding promising companies and technologies.
Q. What kind of people and in which industries are you in
regular contact with in the course of a work week?
A. Other engineers and developers, various people via several
mailing lists, research analysts, traders, designers, firm man-
agement, and lots of inter-firm interaction, locally and
internationally with our offices in NY, London, Hong Kong. Also,
I' m constantly meeting with vendors and other firms in
wireless, knowledge management, financial data, and internet
tech.
Q. How many people are on the Internet in Japan?
A. Twenty million by traditional count. However, over 14 million
are also accessing data and sending email, etc. via cell phones
So you'd have to include another 12 million or so.
Q. What are the major stories in Internet business in Japan
these days?
A. Only one: the future of the Net is wireless. It's already
here. NTT DoCoMo has over NINE MILLION subscribers to its I-Mode
service. And it's growing at nearly a million a month. That's 9
million people surfing the web and doing e-mails via a cell
phone. That makes it the world's largest cell phone operator,
with almost almost 30 million customers, and also Japan's
largest ISP. The next largest traditional(home dialup)ISP is
Fujitsu's @Nifty, with 3.5 million users.
Q. Are the major systemic barriers that have held Internet
growth back in Japan now disappearing?
A. Fixed line costs are astronomical. Because of the government
sponsored NTT monopoly on fixed lines, it costs about US$700 to
get a phone line in your apartment. The irony is, NTT spun off
its pitiful cell phone division and punished an uppity career
employee by putting him in charge. He turned NTT DoCoMo into a
powerhouse, now valued MORE than NTT and making the fixed line
cost issue irrelevant. You can already get 64k speeds via PHS
cellular phones. With wCDMA next year, speeds will rapidly
approach hundreds of k and soon megs, so the necessity of fixed
line drops. In fact, as of a few months ago the number of cell-
ular phones overtook the number of fixed line (57 vs 55
million).
Q. How long have you been tracking developments in wireless
Internet access in Japan? What have been the major changes and
surprises in that time?
A. Over a year, from just before i-mode started. The major
surprise has been the speed of uptake. DoCoMo predicted 10
million i-mode users by 2001. We'll hit 10 million by August.
Before February 1999 there wasn't much besides SMS messaging.
Now, only a year and a half later, there are 14 million people
using cell phones.
Q. Why is wireless Interent access via cell phones such a
phenomenon in Japan as opposed to, say, the US? Is it mainly
due to the fact that Japanese enjoy "always on" cell phone
access throughout the country?
A. Let me mention several reasons. Land lines and PC hardware
are relatively expensive, as are local landline charges. Homes
are small and desktop room is scant. Office PC penetration is
also relatively low. Also, Japanese mostly commute via public
transportation, allowing for lots of time to kill -- perfect for
web-enabled phones. Then there is the fact that many Japanese
consider themselves tech-illiterate. They can't type, and have
never used a PC, but anyone can use a phone. In fact, a major
marketing strategy of DoCoMo'sis to NEVER mention things like
email, Internet, or technical terms, instead focusing on
"communication, buying a ticket, or playing a game"
Q. Sounds like AOL's strategy. Why has NTT DoCoMo's i-mode
been such a hit, even though its users are looking at tiny
screens and typing on tiny key pads?
A. Such an American opinion! First, the technical truth: the
screen on Nokia's I-Mode phone is less than half the size of
Nokia's European WAP phone, and yet the WAP phone can only dis-
play 4 blocky lines of text, whereas the I-Mode phone can dis-
play 6 lines of text, 16 characters per line, plus GIFs 111 x 71
pixels. Many phones in Japan can support more text, colors, and
larger graphics. So, the small displays are MORE than adequate
for displaying text and image data. Besides, a typical Japanese
phone weighs less than 100 grams, fits in your shirt pocket,
and has a lithium-ion battery that lasts a week.
As for the keypad, high-school kids who crank out 50 e-mails a
day on their phones can do so at 40 words a minute. A recent
contest in the cool Shibuya area of Tokyo produced a winner who
could do over 70 words a minute! You think learning to type is
any easier than using a phone keypad?
Q. Will NTT DoCoMo continue its domination of this market or
will its competitors, DDI and IDO, make inroads into market
share? Why haven't they been able to compete with i-mode so far?
A. NTT DoCoMo isn't going anywhere for a while. They've got well
over 80% market share for smart phones, and all the momentum
that a government-sponsored, industry-dominating monopoly can
muster. All major players, be they hardware, contents, what have
you, go to DoCoMo first because they have the customer base.
Q. When will DoCoMo launch its 3G digital cellular system? How
fast will it be? What will that speed allow users to do that
they can't do now?
A. Wideband CDMA is scheduled to launch spring 2001. Initial
estimates are for 100k/sec, over 300k/sec in optimal conditions.
Q. Is the Internet boom in Japan attracting lots of attention
from foreign firms?
A. Not nearly enough in my opinion.
Q. Are American firms still being too "US-centric" about the
Internet and missing opportunities in Japan?
A. Absolutely. There are opportunities in Japan that simply do
NOT exist anywhere in the world: 14 million customers, fast
takeup of new technologies, profitable business models.
Q. What separates those that succeed in Japan from those that
fail?
A. In order to succeed in Japan you have to understand Japan.
You need local presence and local connections. Opening an office
in Tokyo and bringing in $50 million in VC will get you nowhere.
You need people who speak the language and are connected in the
industry. The cutting edge wireless world is no different than
any other industry in Japan. It's dominated by an old boy's
network, and all the major players are top names like Sony, NTT,
and Fujitsu. There are many young and hungry companies, some
doing very well (Softbank,Tokyo Mettalic Tsushin) but still they
have extensive connections and know how to get
themselves in good with the right politicians and bureaucrats
to get the chance they need.
Q. For which kinds are foreign firms is Japan's present boom in
e-commerce producing opportunities? How are they entering the
market? Joint ventures, greenfields, aquisitions, licensing
agreements?
A. A lot of infrastructure is still foreign -- nobody makes
better routers than Cisco. Also, big opportunities to fund
start-ups and supply everything from backend systems and
customer/relationship management tools to "e-commerce" software.
Of course both your company and your product needs to work in
Japanese, in Japan, on Japan time. Again, strategic partnerships
are the way to go, even if you're bilingual. Connection, via
bits as well as handshakes, makes business success in Japan.
Q. More specifically, how is the boom in wireless Internet
access opening doors for foreign firms in Japan? What kinds
of foreign firms do you see becoming players in Internet bus-
iness in Japan these days?
A. Domestic finance in Japan is still very shaky and
traditional, so there's tons of opportunities for funding
and investing. There's also lots of smart local players with
a cool technology, or a copy of a successful website from
the States, but with room for improvement in supply chain,
knowledge, and content management. The real players in Japan,
like in the States, will be the VCs.
Q. Is Japan's inablity to get its economy in gear acting as
a major impediment for firms who would like to take advantage
of the opportunities the Internet?
A. Nope. Just the opposite: less local competition! And,
increasingly, more local players are willing to partner with
a foreign company because that's the only option that can
save them.
Q. How will the present wireless access boom affect B2B
E-commerce in Japan?
A. So far, B2B hasn't come yet because so much money is being
made in B2C. But the inefficiencies of Japan's famously huge,
basically valueless middle management and unbelievable supply
chains mean big opportunities for cost-cutting.
Q. Now it's time to get our your crystal ball. Any predictions
as to how the landscape of e-commerce in Japan will look like
in a year? In two years?
A. I think B2C will continue to dominate. Fashion and trends
have always been and always will be big in Japan. I don't know
which famous singer or cartoon character it'll be, but it
doesn't matter because it changes every 3 months anyway.
I feel confident that the future WON'T be what everyone's
hyping and demoing now for 3G: video phones. Wireless video
telephony is not the holy grail of 3G. That being said, some-
one will figure out some use for 3G that no one now can en-
vision, and it will be HUGE.
Audio will be a big deal: J-Pop CD singles sell well, so it's
not hard to imagine downloading the latest MP3 on your wire-
less cellphone/walkman, but that's not future tech because we
already have PHS phones that can do that.
I think the really cool stuff will be breaking up the phone into
component pieces. I hate all the hype around Bluetooth, because
it's just cable replacement. But, if you can use Bluetooth to
break up the phone itself, make my belt buckle a phone, stitch
buttons into my shirt sleeve, put a folding screen in my pocket,
and a hard disk in my shoe.........
Ericcson's and everyone else's visions of the future are so
lame. Some company will specialize in making screens. In-
credibly rich, color, foldable screens that do nothing but
display. Some other company will make really small mics and
speakers. So, with Bluetooth tying them all together and to
a 3G network, why do I need a phone with a keypad, screen,
mike, and speaker that all suck?
My final prediction: the future is fashion. Think of the
leather band, of the gold face, or the slick design. The same
thing is happening with wireless phones in Japan, and a bit
in Europe, and with Bluetooth to break up the components,
your earring is your speaker and mic, your necklace is the
antenna, and your false fingernails act as a keyboard
by just tapping your fingers.
A. Sounds like I'd have to do some accessorizing to
make that work for me, but thanks for opening that window
into the future!
***************
FACTS & Figures
***************
Number of Internet users in Japan - about 20 million (63%
male, 37% female), by traditional count, plus another 12 million
accessing the Net via wireless cell phones.
Number of Internet users in Japan projected by the year
2001 - 27 million
Household PC penetration - about 30%
Number of mobile phone subscribers in Japan - 57 million
Number of fixed line phone subscribers in Japan - 55 million
Number of subscribers to NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service - over
9 million
Most visited websites in Japan: 1)Yahoo.co.jp 2)Nifty.com
3)Biglobe.ne.jp 4)Geocities.co.jp 5)Microsoft.com
Size of the e-commerce market in Japan, 1999 - $3.2 billion;
up 380% over 1988, if the real estate sector is excluded.
(source: Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan and
Andersen Consulting).
Personal online spending in Japan, 2000 (projected)-
More than $4 billion (according to a Lehman Brothers)
Projected size of e-commerce market in Japan in 2004 - US$60
million (source: Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan
and Andersen Consulting).
Percentage of new Internet users who are female - 50%.
Fastest growing group of new Internet users - females
between 26 and 30, representing 35.1% of all new users
in Japan. (source:Nikkei Net Magazine's ninth annual survey)
Number of Japanese who logged on to the Net for the first
time in 1999 - 10 million (3.67 of whom used cellular phones
to go online)
Number of small businesses actively conducting business
online in Japan - 28% (according to a recent survey by IBM
Japan).
Online ad spending in 1999 - $228 million (up 111.4% over 1998)
Online ad spending in 2000 - $349 million (projection by Dentsu)
*******************************
MARKET INTELLIGENCE AT-A-GLANCE
*******************************
PRICELINE.COM FORMS PARTNERSHIP WITH SOFTBANK IN JAPAN
------------------------------------------------------
"Name Your Own Price" e-tailer priceline.com Inc. said on
Monday, July 31, that it will join with Softbank E-Commerce
Corp. (Softbank EC) to bring its unique buyer-driven e-com-
merce platform to Japan.
SHORTAGE OF AD SPACE DRIVES UP ONLINE ADVERTISING PRICES
--------------------------------------------------------
As more firms are budgeting Net ad expenses in fiscal year
2000, advertising on the Net in Japan is becoming cost-
lier, with rates currently 20-50% higher than in 1999.
D.A.Consortium, a Tokyo-based agency, predicts the number
of applications for ad placements this year will be three
times those of last year.
AOL, DOCOMO AGREE TO TIE UP IN JAPAN
------------------------------------
American Online and NTT DoCoMo have agreed to jointly develop
wireless Internet services in Japan, the Wall Street Journal
reported in its Aug.1 electronic edition. The deal will make
AOL content available on DoCoMo's i-mode wireless Internet
service. AOL has not had great success in Japan up to now,
but they are apparently eyeing the estimated 77 million wire-
less cyber-surfers in Japan projected by 2005.
BLUE CHIPS ON U.S. NASDAQ TO TRADE ON NASDAQ JAPAN
--------------------------------------------------
Some U.S. blue chips listed on the U.S. Nasdaq market are
likely to be listed on Nasdaq Japan as early as December,
according to sources at the Osaka Securities Exchange.
The stocks of around 20 leading U.S. companies such as
Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. are likely to be listed
by next summer, the sources said
EZweb WAP SUBSCRIBER BASE TOPS 3 MILLION
-----------------------------------------
EZweb, the wireless Internet service for cellular phones
offered by DDI Corp., the DDI Cellular Group, the TU-KA
Group and IDO Corp. reached another milestone on July 28
when the total subscriber base passed the 3 million
level.
**********
SOOTHSAYER
**********
While being a Soothsayer may appear to be a cushy job (fre-
quently heard comment: "nice work if you can get it"), it's
not all peaches and cream in the divining business. In fact,
it's a lot of "rubber chickens", the cuisine of
choice on the banquet circuit, where Soothsayer attends numerous
speeches by industry experts in order to stay in tune with the
cutting edge and be a better pronosticator. But no culinary
sacrifice is too great if helps Soothsayer provide his loyal
readership a window into the future.
Having closely followed the goings on in Japan
for over a decade now, Soothsayer sees certain patterns
repeating themselves, the occasional development in its em-
bryonic phase, and even the periodic "handwriting on the wall".
First of all, let's look at the evolution of the Internet in
Japan. As the Japanese have lagged behind the US in embracing
the Internet, for a number of reasons, some have taken this
as a sign that they just don't "get" the Internet in Japan.
Soothsayer, however, has seen Japan drag its feet on new
technologies in the past, waiting until it fully understood
them and had developed a coherent strategy before moving for-
ward, and then going full steam ahead. Look for this to hap-
pen again in Japan, as the numbers indicate that the planning
stage is over and the implementation stage is under way.
Soothsayer also feels that as e-commerce picks up steam in
Japan, foreign firms should look at this as a chance to cir-
cumvent one of the main barriers that has traditionally flum-
moxed them to no end - the byzantine distribution system.
As B2B e-commerce catches on, with its attendant "disinter-
mediation" effect, the playing field in Japan will start to look
more level from an outsider's point of view. The links in the
distribution chain which add no value will be discarded as part
of the rationalization process and the route to the end-user
will be a much less tortuous path. Soothsayer feels firms which
understand this and can understand how the IT revolution
in Japan is restructuring the landscape of business will have a
leg up on their less informed competitors in the coming years.
Soothsayer sees a window of opportunity for firms wanting to
be a part of the "Internet tsunami" in Japan, though that win-
dow will not be open indefinitely. The VC firms, viewing the
American market as mature, are now setting their sights on Ja-
pan and the money is pouring in. As e-business starts to kick
into high gear, the race to be first takes on added importance.
If you don't get your web site up and running on time, faster
and hungrier competitors will move in and eat your lunch.
American firms have the advantage right now in terms of being
Internet savvy, but this advantage will diminish as Japanese
firms learn how to do online marketing and sales and begin to
devise their own feasible e-business concepts. If your firm sees
a niche in Japan where it fits, now is the time to get in there,
and maybe that means finding the right Japanese partner to take
your business model and use their contacts and market expertise
to make it "fly" in Japan. Soothsayer, who by definition dwells
in the future, feels that there no time like the present in
this case.
*****
LINKS
*****
I-MODE - Check out the guide to English-language sites for the
mobile i-mode platform:
http://www.imodelinks.com
TOKYO STOCK EXCHANGE performance over the past 3 months:
http://www3.yomiuri.co.jp/stocks/stocks.htm
YEN/DOLLAR EXCHANGE RATE:
http://www3.yomiuri.co.jp/stocks/exchange.htm
BUSINESS WEEK E-COMMERCE PROJECTIONS FOR JAPAN:
http://www.businessweek.com/ebiz/9905/dm0507.htm
BAKER AND MCKENZIE'S GUIDE TO E-COMMERCE LAW IN JAPAN:
http://www.bmck.com/ecommerce/japan.htm
**********************
We want your feedback!
**********************
The Japan E-Commerce newsLINE wants to know what's
our readers minds. Please e-mail comments and suggestions
for future topics to be covered to: japan-ecn@onebox.com
We look forward to hearing from you!
................... E D I T O R I A L .....................
Christopher Beck Tel: 206.664.1000 x 1226
Executive Editor e-mail: c.beck@onebox.com
.................The Japan E-Commerce newsLINE ............
7737 12th Ave. NW Tel: 206.664.1000 x 1226
Seattle, WA 98117 e-mail: japan-ecn@onebox.com
...........................................................
............... S U B S C R I P T I O N S .................
The Japan E-Commerce newsLINE is published monthly.
Subscriptions are free.
...........................................................
To subscribe, send an email with "subscribe" in the subject line
to:
japan-ecn@onebox.com
To unsubscribe, send an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject
line to:
japan-ecn@onebox.com
.......................................................................
-- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Listar --
-- Type: application/ms-tnef
Received on Fri Aug 25 04:21:58 2000