Japan and the mobile wave

"It is no surprise that Japan has a reputation for being the most developed mobile phone market in the world. Japan launched 3G (third generation mobile networks) 18 months ago. Picture messaging is two and a half years old. New services such as weather reports, airline reservations and personalised alarm calls are added on a daily basis.

According to a recent survey commissioned by mobile operator KDDI (Japan's second largest telecommunications company), 80bn yen (£427m) was spent on ring tones and mobile karaoke last year. Downloading karaoke costs as much as a text message and new songs are released every day."

Read more on The Guardian, link below.