Japanese Cell Phones

Japanese cell phones have been more advanced than their counterparts in the West for years. They still are. But they've never been able to gain much of a foothold in the American market.

For a long time, this wasn’t a problem. The Japanese cell phone market was booming, with ever increasing numbers of teens and adults buying the very latest technology. Now that the market is saturated, with nearly 75% of all Japanese owning a cell phone, the companies, such as NEC, Panasonic, and Toshiba are being forced into looking at overseas markets in order to stay in business.

Japanese Cell Phones - Advanced Technology

Japanese Cell PhonesIn 1999, the Japanese introduced their phones to the magic of e-mail. In 2000 it was digital cameras. It wasn’t until two years later that camera phones were commercially marketed in North America. The technology is so advanced that the Japanese were using 3G networks as early as 2001.

Other features available on Japanese phones include:

The most interesting feature on Japanese mobile phones is the ability to use it as a credit card, swiping it through vending machines or in most stores around the country, as well as using it to buy subway passes.

Why We Didn’t Have Japanese Cell Phones Before

If the tech is as great as it sounds, why haven’t the Japanese cell companies brought the phones to the rest of the world?

The answer is complicated. At first, it was that other nations didn’t have a market for high tech phones. Then it was the development of the networks in Japan—they didn’t crossover, and thus made Japanese phones completely incompatible with the rest of the world. The 3G network—while everyone else was using 2G—confirmed Japan’s isolation in the cell phone market.

Why We Don’t Have Japanese Cell Phones Now

The networks are still incompatible; it’s easier to rent a new phone when traveling to Japan than to try to make your original phone work.

But the real problem now is that Japanese phones have gone in a completely different direction than everyone else. It’s those differences that are holding them back.

While the new American smartphones, like the Blackberry and Mac’s iPhone, are focusing on sleek designs, simple hardware, and great apps, Japanese phones expanded their technology with new hardware. The software that is available on these phones is clunky, with complicated menus to navigate the twenty functions that come with each phone.

Also, because the companies have been catering to an Japanese-only market for so long, other idiosyncrasies make these phones less than marketable to an overseas audience. Nearly all Japanese cells are flip-phones, or clamshell phones, which are becoming less popular as Blackberries and iPhones take over the market.

Phones Going Abroad

Whether or not a foreign cell phone will work in Japan is a toss-up. GSM phones won’t work, since Japan doesn’t use it at all. CDMA phones depend on the operator, and it's best and cheapest to buy a prepaid SIM card for the phone.

Bringing a Japanese phone abroad is another matter. Some models, like the ones that use PDC, won’t work at all. The others, which use SIM cards, might not work because the cards are locked. In other words, the phone responds to that card and only that card unless you pay to have it unlocked. If you do have it unlocked, buying a SIM card in your local country should do the trick, but it’s always best to ask your provider and the person you are buying the phone from before making a purchase.

Japanese Mobile Phones and The Future

Problems exist for Japanese cell phones as they are now. Not everyone wants a phone with a GPS, mp3 player, television, and advanced digital camera that also happens to look like a handbag (yes, it really exists). In fact, few people in America want such a phone.

Then there are the network compatibility issues. While the Japanese network imode is very advanced—it is based on CompactHTML—it is exclusive to Japan. It is unlikely that the rest of the world will change their networks just to allow Japanese phones into the market.

In order to break into the North American market, the companies are going to have to design great software that can compete with the giants like Apple. Slimming the phones, and thus losing at least some of the hardware, is another must. Waterproofing is probably a welcome advancement though, especially for anyone who has accidentally run a cell phone through the wash or had it ruined by the rain.

Japanese cell phones are flashy, brilliant technology, and if the companies do manage to break into the worldwide market then phone geeks are in for a treat. If not, the smartphones we already have will do just fine.