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While I'm not necessarily disputing your conclusion, I can't agree with the validity of Japanese trends as evidence in this context. Curtis' argument was largel

by yzzxy 12y ago

While I'm not necessarily disputing your conclusion, I can't agree with the validity of Japanese trends as evidence in this context. Curtis' argument was largely focused on behaviors of differing age demographics, and Japan's age distribution is nowhere near that of the US currently (highly weighted towards the elderly).

ekianjo 12y ago
> and Japan's age distribution is nowhere near that of the US currently (highly weighted towards the elderly). Nope, Curtis is talking about behaviors of younger people, just as I am. My point is that Japan is the most mature market out there for mobile phone, since there's no other country that has such a long and significant mobile phone history out there. It's been prevalent even with teenagers since the mid 90s, and now most kids get a smartphone before they even reach 10. And they could do everything with it. Yet the kids from the mid 90s and mid 2000s still went and purchased PCs when they grew up. People's behavior changes as they age. That's why you don't keep eating "happy meals" at McDonald's when you are 30.
- ghshephard 12y ago
  There is some difference between the Japanese Mobile Phone market, and the Smart Phone Market, in terms of jobs could be accomplished. The smart phone market was effectively launched when the Android/iPhone devices that could run third party apps, came about in 2007/2008. The disruption that these devices brought about was not to mobile phones, but to laptops/PCs, and should be viewed from that angle.
  - ekianjo 12y ago
    No, Japanese mobile phones could already do most of what you can do nowadays on a smartphone with web interfaces instead of application for most of the services available in Japan. They had defined a specific protocol for mobile phones web pages to make it easy to navigate and display information. Technically you did not need a PC for most services anymore - that's precisely why I am using Japan as an example. If you don't believe me, go back and check what Japanese mobile phones could do back in the 90s. They were not pretty, but you could do a whole lot with them.
- yzzxy 12y ago
  My point is that despite the fact Japan has a more mature mobile phone market, the surrounding society doesn't have the same age demographics as, say, the United States. This difference will affect marketing, product and service design, etc. Even if that's the way younger people behave in the marketing environment of Japan, it may not be the way they would behave in the marketing environment of a younger country.
  - ekianjo 12y ago
    Not sure what you are aiming at here. Nobody does marketing for the whole population at once. You know, marketing target segments of people, and you have marketing for younger people as well as for older people, and design follows the needs of each of these segments. It's not because there are more older people in Japan than in other countries in proportion that companies stop targeting younger people. Come in Japan and you'll see a very different picture with most of the culture catering to younger audiences.

by yzzxy 12y ago

ekianjo 12y ago

> and Japan's age distribution is nowhere near that of the US currently (highly weighted towards the elderly). Nope, Curtis is talking about behaviors of younger people, just as I am. My point is that Japan is the most mature market out there for mobile phone, since there's no other country that has such a long and significant mobile phone history out there. It's been prevalent even with teenagers since the mid 90s, and now most kids get a smartphone before they even reach 10. And they could do everything with it. Yet the kids from the mid 90s and mid 2000s still went and purchased PCs when they grew up. People's behavior changes as they age. That's why you don't keep eating "happy meals" at McDonald's when you are 30.

ghshephard 12y ago
There is some difference between the Japanese Mobile Phone market, and the Smart Phone Market, in terms of jobs could be accomplished. The smart phone market was effectively launched when the Android/iPhone devices that could run third party apps, came about in 2007/2008. The disruption that these devices brought about was not to mobile phones, but to laptops/PCs, and should be viewed from that angle.
- ekianjo 12y ago
  No, Japanese mobile phones could already do most of what you can do nowadays on a smartphone with web interfaces instead of application for most of the services available in Japan. They had defined a specific protocol for mobile phones web pages to make it easy to navigate and display information. Technically you did not need a PC for most services anymore - that's precisely why I am using Japan as an example. If you don't believe me, go back and check what Japanese mobile phones could do back in the 90s. They were not pretty, but you could do a whole lot with them.
yzzxy 12y ago
My point is that despite the fact Japan has a more mature mobile phone market, the surrounding society doesn't have the same age demographics as, say, the United States. This difference will affect marketing, product and service design, etc. Even if that's the way younger people behave in the marketing environment of Japan, it may not be the way they would behave in the marketing environment of a younger country.
- ekianjo 12y ago
  Not sure what you are aiming at here. Nobody does marketing for the whole population at once. You know, marketing target segments of people, and you have marketing for younger people as well as for older people, and design follows the needs of each of these segments. It's not because there are more older people in Japan than in other countries in proportion that companies stop targeting younger people. Come in Japan and you'll see a very different picture with most of the culture catering to younger audiences.