(keitai-l) Re: Shintoism, Ubicomp, LBS

From: Philip Sugai <philip_at_iuj.ac.jp>
Date: 03/26/07
Message-ID: <460738C9.70600@iuj.ac.jp>
NTT DoCoMo's Natsuno has my favorite quote on this subject - 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4306834/

"It's not about being Japanese. It's about knowing what people want and 
how to sell it the right way."

I've conducted research on the meaning of the mobile Internet across 
cultures (http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=11449), and have 
concluded similar to Nick (although with slightly different words) that 
attributing the success of specific mobile internet services, or the 
mobile internet itself to Japanese culture is incorrect.

Here are the slides of my presentation at the November MoMo in Tokyo 
(http://www.mobilemonday.jp/?page_id=13), which tries to dispel the 
"culture" myth, as well as the "commuting" myth, and look at the true 
sources of value in mobile marketing.  Others like the "late to adopt 
the PC Internet" and "small house" myths have also had their spotlight 
on Keitai-L as well I believe.

Yes, Japan has an extremely rich culture, which makes it very easy to 
use as an example for why something has or has not worked.  And while 
these speculations make for fun reading, they typically fall apart when 
market research is conducted on them.  At least that's been my 
experience with them.

-- 
Philip Sugai, D.Sc., MBA
Associate Dean, Associate Professor of Marketing
Graduate School of International Management
International University of Japan
777 Kokusai Cho, Minami Uonuma-shi
Niigata, 949-7277  Japan
Office Tel/Fax:  81-(0)25-779-1400
Received on Mon Mar 26 06:06:58 2007