Targeting Mobile Japan? Build an Android App!

Japan has been an early adopter of mobile internet. While Europeans and consumers in the US were struggling to download e-mails on their phones, the Japanese were enjoying the ease of mobile sites and have been able to enjoy the convenience of being able to access the web while on the move.

It might therefore be surprising that Japan is actually lagging in smartphone adoption. In a recent Google Think Insights Study called "Global Perspectives: Smartphone Users and the Mobile Marketer" (PPT) we can read that smartphone adoption across the globe is as follows:

• US - 31%
• UK - 30%
• France - 27%
• Germany - 18%
• Japan - 6%

A mere six percent of the Japanese own a smartphone? This might be explained by the fact that the Japanese long relied on WAP technology (and i-mode, a similar system by NTT DoCoMo). This technology developed very well in Japan and the phones were also more suited to the Japanese than smartphones have been; I am referring to the superior input of Japanese characters using physical buttons as compared to touchscreens.

However, times are a-changing.

iPhone and Android phones are gaining in popularity and thanks to them smartphone adoption is growing. Recent growth is fueled disproportionately by Android devices, as we can see in this table I got from comScore Japan:

Although the iPhone is said to remain the most popular device (Android OS is used on many different devices), this fact may not be that relevant for developers of mobile apps. This Google Insights graph shows the popularity of the search queries "iPhone app" (blue) and "Android app" (red).

These are the graphs for July 2010 until June 2011. It's hard to see the results clearly on such a small graph, so see the results for yourself here. It is clear that Android apps are becoming increasingly popular while iPhone apps are just stable.

By the way. the Japanese are crazy about apps; an average smartphone user in Japan has 45 apps installed on his phone! That's nearly double the figure of US smartphone owner (23). Also, the Japanese are very willing to buy through their smartphone; 45% of smartphone owners made a purchase on their phones, 29% of smartphone adopters in the US, and only 17% in France. (All figures from same Google Think Insights Study.)

I am no e-commerce expert, but this seems like an opportunity waiting to be grasped. How about building a shopping app? Only 10% of Japanese advertisers have a dedicated app at this moment, as compared to 19% of US advertisers. Even a large e-merchant like Kakaku.com doesn't seem to have a smartphone app.

The building apps in Japan is still quite blue ocean. This while the Japanese love to use them. As smartphone adoption is kicking off, and Android taking the lead in this, the conclusion seems to be pretty straightforward. Don't you think?