QR-Cool

There have been a lot of 2D-barcode upstarts as of late, most of them focusing on making their dot boxes attractive and marketing-friendly. QR-codes, the standard here in Japan, are looked upon as ugly or industrial-looking with low potential to be integrated into a company's look and feel.

Not so. Check out LogoQ and DesignQR. They crush most of the marketing claims touted by other companies, and they can be read with any standard QR-code reader. You know, the reader that comes standard in nearly all Japanese keitai and many Nokia devices. Go ahead, scan a sample.

Here are a few samples from LogoQ.

Here are a few from DesignQR.

A walk on the For-Side

Terrie's Take has an insightful article about the rise and fall of For-Side in Europe and the circumstances surrounding their withdrawal from the European market. Definitely worth a read.

Mobile Marketing Trends in Japan

eMarketer is running an article (tomorrow according to the date ;P) about how mobile marketing is seeing a revival in Japan. Using keitai as promotional tools is not new in Japan, but there has been some serious growth over the past year according to the referenced Dentsu 2006 Expenditure Report (PDF).

The use of mobile advertising in nationwide mass campaigns by clients in industries such as beverages and automobiles is already a well-established approach, and total spending in this medium rose to ¥39.0 billion (up 35.4%) in 2006.

Another referenced report from NPD Group indicates that 2D barcodes have become one of the most used features on Japanese mobile phones. Emarketer has made a nice chart:

Anyway, you should check out the original story at eMarketer and have a look at Dentsu's website for variety of free reports.

SNS in Japan

Wireless Watch Japan has a story on Disney's Wonder Days, the latest SNS on the Japanese mobile scene. There is a nice video clip showing the user experience and features available on Wonder Days and Mobage-Town. Worth a look if you are interested in seeing whats brewing in the social networking pot over here.

Japan's Cellphone Edge

Just came across this great blog about the mobile industry in Japan. Lots of good market data and news coverage.

Kid's Keitais

Children's phones have been present for a few years, but now all four main wireless carriers in Japan have all started marketing keitai for children. Docomo has their Kid's Keitai, KDDI has their Junior Keitai, Softbank has their Kodomobile, and Willcom has their Papipo.
These phones come with parent-oriented features like limited web access to kid-safe sites, white lists for numbers calls can be received from or made to, location maps to track you child's position and panic buttons that sound alarms, call a pre-set number and start taking pictures and collecting GPS information to automatically send to the parents phone by email. Wireless Watch Japan has a nice article about mobile phones for kids in Japan. There's also a video interview with AU Designing Studio's Manager Natsuko Kimura where she demonstrates some of the features of KDDI's keitai's for kids.

Here's a commercial for the KDDI Junior Keitai campaign

You got to know your chicken-ish

It's in the Google calendar menu, so I'm sure it's been around for a while, but にわとり的 (niwatori-teki: "like chicken" I guess) is a great calendar. It shows the availability dates of games, consoles and keitai as well as the J-League season.

The Ubiquitous QR Code (in Japan, anyway)

Anyone who has been to Japan already knows this, but these things are everywhere. Yes, I eat fast food sometimes. So what?

There have been a lot of alternatives springing up over the last couple years, especially in Europe, but in Japan, along with "empty mail" "quick-response codes" the easiest way to get to a URL. It's also used for getting calendar events, contact info, etc. They were originally developed for shipping purposes. Nearly every Japanese keitai comes with a QR-Code reader. They are on you food wrappers, beer cans, sides of buidings, in subways and taxis, on clothes, in museums and restaurants, etc. You can see for yourself here.