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I A LA MODE From August 2000 EDITORIAL NOTE: All the links in this essay are dead, so I've removed them. In addition, the issue seems to be pretty dead as well. Back in 2000, I was fascinated by the cell phone culture of Japan and it seemed that it might move to America, even with some technical issues standing in the way. Five years later, it never happened. But we do have video moving to cell phones and we also had the rise of BlackBerry culture, so who knows what the future will bring? Cell phone culture in America has become pretty familiar. We see them used in passing cars, in stores, on the beach. This Spring, I even saw someone at a Melvins show in New Orleans trying to use their phone amidst a deafening roar. In Japan, cell phones (known as keitai) have also become a part of the landscape. Here's a report from 1995 that documents the changes in Japanese life and here's a look (from '98) at a Japanese schoolgirl's accessories, which includes a cute little cell phone. The trend has grown; in April, the number of cell phones used passed the number of fixed-line phones. A new phenomenon has emerged: Internet access by mobile phone, known as I-mode. Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Mobile Communications Network (NTT DoCoMo) rolled out the service in February 1999, and other companies quickly followed. Here's an article from last August with a 22-year-old student keeping up with the scores of the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, his favorite baseball team. Here's one from last September, about gaming company Bandai and NTT DoCoMo joining to deliver video games to cell phones. From March of 2000, here's an article about using your cell phone to connect to Bandai's Kitty Chan (a.k.a. Hello Kitty) Web site. A spokesman predicts the capability of "having Kitty Chan moving back and forth across the display, fetching the latest news for you every day." And from May, here's a story with teenagers being able to attach icons to e-mail messages they send with their phones. One says, "When I'm happy, I always e-mail a smiling face to my friends." It also affects the classic boy-girl phone chat: "Boy calls girl and during their conversation gives her his photo access number. Once his photo pops up on her screen she can keep talking - or hang up." An NTT DoCoMo spokesman predicts that you will be able to have your doctor diagnose your sore throat, simply by holding your cell phone up to your mouth, so that he can get an image. And now the phenomenon is poised to come to America. NTT DoCoMo is discussing buying a stake in a proposed wireless joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. Here's a story on the venture and here's an article that explains NTT DoCoMo's success. Can we look forward to I-mode catching on in the US? Perhaps. It certainly seems a more vibrant medium that the WAP material available now. |