While operators in Europe and America are struggling to get customers to switch over to 3G devices to make better use of the infrastructure, Japan comes out and says that for the first time in history they’ve sold absolutely 0 second generation devices.

[Via: AFP]

It comes as no surprise that the Japanese have the most advanced handsets in the world, but what makes them different compared to their European and Korean competitors? The components are the same, they’re available for anyone to purchase, but the level of engineering knowledge required to put together something that has a 1 seg tuner, 5.1 megapixel camera, GSM, HSDPA, Bluetooh and mobile payment system all while achieving all day battery life is difficult to obtain.

Take a look inside 3 handsets, the FOMA P905i, W53H and 920SH to discover just how impressive they actually are.

[Via: TechOn!, Wireless Watch Japan]

The fight for dominating the heart’s of mobile phone fanatics is a battle that drives the industry forward faster and faster each and every calendar year. We, the people crazy enough to buy a flagship devive twice a year, sometimes even a few midrange products to match our outfits, are walking advertisements for companies like Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE), Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung, LG and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). When we sit down and place our devices on a table for all to see we are becoming marketeers. When we browse the internet while commuting or watch videos or make a phone call, we are telling the world a lot about who we are.

Nokia has been the top dog for quite some time with Sony Ericsson climbing fast. The conversations I’ve had with people in the US lead you to believe that the fight for supremacy is between Apple and Nokia. Talk to people in Europe, the Middle East, some parts of Asia and South America and you begin to realize that Sony Ericsson is Nokia’s number 1 competitor, not the west coast fruit.

When I was living in Helsinki there were more Sony Ericsson advertismenets than there were for Nokia; their message was be different from everyone else in town. Each time I visit London I’m flooded with Walkman ads, they understand people want to listen to music, constantly, to rid themselves of their outside enviroment. Spain, granted I went there for 3GSM, was owned by the Korean players Samsung and LG who wanted to attract style consious consumers.

Coming back to Sony Ericsson, they are not an incomponent company, they’re quite capable of being number 1 in the mid range and high end market, but it doesn’t feel like they’re hungry enough to be top dog. Here are some models they sell in Japan, but have yet to release anywhere else in the world:

The SO905iCS has a 5.1 megapixel camera with Xenon flash, 3x optical zoom, face detection and a technology that waits until the person you’re trying to capture smiles before actually snapping the picture. It has a 2.7 inch screen that displays 256k colors at 480×864 resolution. It’s a bit big at 113 x 50 x 24 mm, but compare that to the Nokia N95 8GB which stands at 99 x 53 x 21 and you’re not that much larger than the Finnish flagship.

The SO905i is a video centric device that has that same lovely resolution, but this time at 3 inches and 16 million colors. It’s smaller at 110 x 49 x 19.7 mm and it has a 3.2 megapixel camera.

Their are plenty more models here, but I’m coming back to the point that Sony Ericsson is a company who can dominate Nokia in Europe, but they simpily choose not to. Those 2 devices I highlighted came out in November of last year, yet here in Europe (Americans import European phones) we’re waiting for the inferior speced C902 and G900 to come out.

Why? Think our wallets aren’t deep enough to buy something that will probably be 800+ Euros unlocked? Try me.

In Europe we have DVB-H, in America they have MediaFLO and in Asia they have several standards, but the one that has reached penetration levels of 20 million devices is OneSeg. It took nearly 2 years to do it, but now the 416 kbps 320×240 resolution format has now become the defacto standard to have in mobile phones.

[Via: Mobile Crunch]

… and that’s not all – books sold on Mobile generated 82 million dollars annually! It’s the first stat that amazes me though – it turns the concept of books, and how we consume them on their head (not that reading a book whilst on your head is an enjoyable experience). The whole delivery model could, if this caught on, be knocked for six (although Amazon, those wily foxes, have made their first foray in this direction with their Kindle product).

These stats came courtesy of the International Herald Tribune, but as commentary (link to article below) was added, some great points were made about the uniqueness of Mobile:

• personal mass media
• permanently-carried media
• always-on media
• the media has a built-in payment mechanism(s)
• available on the point of inspiration
• features the most accurate audience measurement of any media

Apparently the whole language system used in these books is also different – with text-message-speak and emoticons littering the pages. And in a scary twist, the books are often ‘written’ (or blogged) on Mobile, as the authors grab spare moments.

As is pointed out neatly, we think of upload from Mobile as being images from cameras, perhaps some video, and a little podcast. But THIS is totally different. Radically different. Could it catch on?

[Via: Communities Dominate Brands]