The Six Immutable Laws of Mobile Business

CHAPTER 2

IMMUTABLE LAW NO. 2: THE LAW OF THE ECOSYSTEM

While we hope you agree that specific cultural factors have not led to Japan’s mobile success, some very strange results remain on the table for us to consider.

Example: At the end of 2007, Japan’s 100 million mobile phone subscribers represented less than 3% of the world’s mobile phone subscriber population, yet 33% (or 82.3 million) of the world’s approximately 250 million third-generation (3G) mobile phone subscribers were in Japan (see Figure 2.1). The Japanese market is far more advanced in terms of the network capabilities and types of content and services its mobile subscribers enjoy.

Figure 2.1 Japan accounts for a third of the broadband market.

The differences do not stop there. Examining the revenues generated from advanced data services, such as text messaging and mobile Internet content use, we find that while total global revenues from mobile data stood at $120 billion in 2007, Japanese mobile subscribers contributed $23.2 billion (~19%, Figure 2.2).

Maybe you think short message services (SMS) messaging is too “2.5G” to be considered for advanced mobile data use. Remove the revenues derived from sending SMS or text messages, however, and you will still find that Japanese mobile consumers contributed approximately $3.6 billion, or 36% of the world’s $10 billion in nontext-related mobile data revenues, as shown ...