On The Shores of Tomorrow

And so, everything has been redifined. The mobile phone for example, is no longer playing the functions of a mobile phone i.e. to receive and make calls.

It is now a music channel, as MP3 to listen to pre-recorded music, or a radio, a tv, a camera, a videocam, a calculator, a mini computer, an internet access where one could do literally thousands or even million things from banking to sending emails on that little thing called the mobile phone.

But of coz, visionaries and missionaries would always take it to the next level.

How about paying bills, sending money to each other no matter where in the world just by using sms throuh your mobile? It is already happening in Japan and now in Malaysia a company is seriously taking it to the next step where one could just use their mobile by touching at terminals in shopping complexes to pay for their shopping bills.

Already, Malaysians especially in cities like KL are getting used to the Touch N Go cards to pay for tolls, LRT, trains and even bus tickets.

So, how would Malaysians at large react to this new phenomena? One thing for certain, it requires lots of educating the consumers.

But for the meantime, get informed. Just spend some time to read the following article as a food for thought before jumping on any bandwagons of change as a business or career...


世論 What Japan Thinks
From kimono to keitai; research Japanese facts and figures through translated opinion polls and surveys.

Majority of mobile phone wallets sit unused
By Ken Y-N ( June 15, 2007 at 22:42) · Filed under Uncategorized
With the Japanese market getting frankly rather crowded, with new electronic money services being launched every other week it seems, japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by goo Research on the matter of Osaifu Keitai, or mobile phone electronic wallets.

Demographics
Between the 31st of May and the 2nd of June 2007 1,093 members of goo Research’s online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.2% of the sample was male, 17.1% in their teens, 19.5% in their twenties, 18.0% in their thirties, 17.6% in their forties, 16.6% in their fifties, and 11.2% aged sixty or older.

Most new mobile phones are equipped with the FeliCa chip, the RFID electronics from Sony that powers almost all the smart cards in Japan, so it is perhaps not terribly surprising that the awareness of Osaifu Keitai is so high. I’ve actually never owned a phone with the chip, however.

Research results
Q1: Do you know about Osaifu Keitai (mobile phone wallet)? (Sample size=1,093)
Know of it81.4%
Heard the name, but don’t know what it is15.8%
Don’t know it at all2.7%

Next, from the sample 435 people, or 39.8%, had phones that had the required chip inside. They were then asked the following question:
Q2: How often do you use your Osaifu Keitai (mobile phone wallet)? (Sample size=435)
Often use it (to SQs)14.0%
Sometimes use it (to SQs)13.6%
Hardly use it36.3%
Never used it63.7%

Summing up the first three responses, we see that 36.3% have used their mobile phone’s electronic cash features; however, this is down eleven percentage points from the last time they inquired about this data.
Q2SQ1: How do you use your mobile phone wallet? (Sample size=120, multiple answer)
VotesPercentage
Paying for shopping, restaurants11595.8%
Paying for using public transport4638.3%
Membership card, point service3831.7%
Paying for net shopping1613.3%
Instead of a season ticket1512.5%
Instead of a movie, concert ticket108.3%
Other00.0%

Q2SQ2: How much money do you currently have stored in your mobile phone wallet? (Sample size=120)
0 yen6.7%
Up to 1,000 yen8.3%
1,000 to 3,000 yen28.3%
3,000 to 5,000 yen20.8%
5,000 to 10,000 yen22.5%
Over 10,000 yen13.3%

Of the 120 frequent or occassional users, 67.5% also carried contactless IC cards, but of the 315 who rarely or never used their mobile phone’s electronic cash features, only 48.6% also carried a card-based electronic cash solution.

Related articles:
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Mobile phone electronic wallets gaining users
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