Napster to shut down in Japan

It was reported (via Keitai Watch) that Napster would discontinue its services in Japan due to the shift to DRM free strategy of its American parent and inability to support development costs required to implement such change in Japan. It was also mentioned in the article that Napster would become profitable in Japan in near terms and hence, the decision to stop providing services because of the additional development costs associated with DRM free platform looks, to put it mildly, strange. Napster Japan is a joint venture between Napster and Tower Record with NTT DoCoMo being involved as well. DoCoMo users are going to be affected as Napster To Go service is being offered on DoCoMo handsets.

Twisting Mickey's ears will get you some music

Aimed at Mickey Mouse-loving crowd the iRiver Mplayer+ hit store shelves in Japan. Featuring 2gb of memory and shaped as mickey's head with music controls in its ears, the miniature mp3 player sells for about $60. What caught my attention is a promo image showing the mplayer+ attached to a cell phone strap (see below). Taking into account that nowadays phones are capable of mp3 playback it seems strange that you will carry another player along with your phone. Or maybe iRiver has uncovered a niche of music phone-shy users?

Mobile music downloads dominate the music landscape in Japan

When it comes to any type of music, be it ringtones, music videos or singles Japanese users prefer to download it and playback on mobile phones. The recent numbers from RIAJ show a whooping 90% of paid music digital content in 2008 being consumed on mobile phone devices. Taking a closer look at mobile music consumption, we can see that ringtone and ringback downloads along with full-track purchases lead in popularity.

Source: RIAJ

Japan’s mobile music downloads hit $633.7m in 2007, leave online sales far behind

Digital music sales grew 41% up in Japan during 2007, according to recent numbers released by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Overall, about 465 million music units were sold, accounting for 75.487bn Japanese yen (approximately $703 million).

The quite interesting part is that mobile music downloads grabbed more than 93% of total music downloads or 90% of digital music sales (and sideloading is not counted as a mobile category). The most growing sub-category inside the mobile music downloads was the single track downloads, which grew by 99% since last year and accounted for $320 million or 50.5% of total mobile music sales. The ringback tune downloads also enjoyed a boost in popularity in 2007, increasing by 90%. The RIAJ numbers underline one more time the significance of mobile phone culture in Japan and its difference from other markets.

Source: RIAJ (Japanese)

Related articles on mobile music:

• Japanese users think iPhone is fat
• KDDI posts 300m downloads of polyphonic ringtones
• Mobile music downloads brought $278.5m in sales in 2005

Image recognition search engine fetches music results onto mobile screens

There is a one more way for Japanese mobile phone users to search for and buy ringtones and music. Bandai Networks just launched a new mobile phone service called “Search by Camera! ER Search” that allows cameraphone users to take a photo of a CD cover or poster and search for the information about that artist or band, using image recognition technology provided by US-based Evolution Robotics.

Evolution Robotics ViPR technology detects and recognizes visual patterns by applying specially developed algorithms to look-up an extensive database of candidate objects residing on a remote server. The object ID is then used to select the associated content to be sent back to the user’s cellular phone. Users can then click the link in the returned content to easily access a mobile site containing detailed product information or, if mobile commerce is available, purchase products directly from their phone without having to type in a product code.

Having partnered with music label company Label Mobile, Bandai Networks digitized more than 150 thousand of label’s CD covers, which cover the large part of the domestic market. The service is oriented at DoCoMo cameraphone users and available at no charge to them. To start using the service users need to download a Java application – iappli – that is compatible with DoCoMo’s handsets only at this moment.

Source: Bandai Networks

Survey: Nearly half of iPod users intend to switch to iPhone in Japan

According to the recent survey conducted by Mitsubishi Research Institute, iPhone as a product has a high level of awareness among Japanese consumers, with 11.3% of survey respondents (out of total 2,400) understanding iPhone’s features and functions and 35.6% having heard about iPhone name. Moreover, when asked about iPhone purchase intension as a replacement for the existing phone, 5.2% of respondents expressed a strong intension to do so, followed with 22.4% of respondent also considering this move. Male users in age segment from ten to forties and female users in age segment from ten to thirties are the ones with most positive attitude toward buying iPhone, with males in their twenties especially tending to become the first adopters of iPhone in Japan. Among iPod users the intension to buy iPhone was even higher – 13.3% strongly inclined to acquire iPhone and 31.4% more likely to do so.

Source: Mitsubishi Research Institute

KDDI au sold 50 million full-song downloads

KDDI au reported the 50 millionth full-song download in May 2006. Having started the music download service in November 2004, KDDI au was gradually increasing the number of sold songs, with downloads accelerating after first half of 2005 when in June 2005 the company hit the 10 millionth mark. The song downloads are available over the air (OTA) directly onto handset or via LISMO service, a PC side loading alternative. There are around 80 music stores selling full-song downloads for KDDI au users with a total number of songs available to be 150 thousand. The number of compatible handset models, including the recently announced 7 models, climbed to 34. At the end of November 2005, there were almost 5 million KDDI au handsets shipped with the OTA music download capability in Japan.

20-to-1: Japan's mobile vs. PC music downloads

Commenting on Apple-Softbank iTunes phone Business Week provides data that Japan's music downloads onto mobile handsets outstrip PC downloads at a 20-to-1 proportion. While there is a huge gap between mobile and PC music downloads, overall the mobile music downloads represent a small chunk of Japan's total music market:

Sales of digital music for cell phones accounted for around 5% of Japan's $4 billion music market last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan. "There's a lot more room for growth in digital music downloads for cell phones," says Ichiro Michikoshi of BCN, a tech market research firm in Japan.

Business Week also says that iPod held a 51.9% music player market share in Japan as of April 2006, followed by Sony (15.2%) and Panasonic (7.1%) who also produce music phones. The move into the handset turf by Apple will seriously deteriorate the handset makers' attempts to grab a market share from Apple, while at the same time will provide Apple with the bargaining power to get much-desired contracts with domestic top labels.

On a carrier's side, the Apple-Softbank phone could provide a boost to Softbank-Vodafone's mobile music service, which is far behind the rivals. For example, KDDI au started offering its full song download service in 2004:

As of mid-January, AU had sold 5.9 million music-playing phones to customers who have bought more than 300 million tunes over the carrier's wireless network. Its LISMO and DuoMusic services let subscribers mix their collection of songs downloaded to cell phones and PCs. One of its handsets, made by Toshiba, has a 4-GB hard disk drive that stores 2,000 songs.

Mobile music downloads brought $278.5m in sales in 2005

According to the latest report from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), mobile downloads dominated Japan’s market of digital music distribution in 2005, claiming 258 millions or 96.4% of total music downloads. The Internet held the mere 3.5% of the market share, recording only 9.5 million downloads.

Music downloads via Internet generated 1,850,620,000 yen ($15.9m) in terms of revenue, while mobile downloads accounted for 32,339,996,000 yen ($278.5m).

The data from RIAJ highlights the known trend that Japanese consumers prefer connecting to the Web from cellphones rather than using PCs.

RIAJ based its report on the data collected from its 41 member and it did not break down single and album downloads, thus the actual number of downloaded songs may be higher than reported. Also, ringtones were included into the total number of downloads and generated revenue.

Source: RIAJ press release (Japanese)

Music phone from NEC holds up to 1,000 songs

In Japan, Vodafone prepares for the spring launch of the 804N, a music phone from NEC. The 804N will be the first model manufactured by NEC for Vodafone with a dual WCDMA/ GSM 900/1800/1900 bands support. GSM support means you can take this phone abroad and use it with the Vodafone service over there.

But the main feature of this phone is its remarkable storage capacity – 450MB of internal memory plus up to 512MB of expandable memory (microSD card slot). All this memory is needed for music playback (non-secure AAC and secure MP3 file formats). The handset has dedicated buttons to play, fast-forward, and rewind music. The retail price with the carrier’s subsidies is expected to be around 15,000 yen ($127).

Here are some additional specs of this phone:

• Size: 48mm x 93mm x 23mm
• Weight: 115g
• Main display: 2.2 inch QVGA screen
• Talk time: 180 minutes (WCDMA)/ 260 minutes (GSM)
• Stand by time: over 250 hours
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB
• Camera: 2.0MP CMOS
• Applications: V Appli (Mega Appli)/ QR-code scanner/ Chaku Uta Full/ Vodafone Live! CAST/ TV Call/ Vodafone Live! BB

KDDI posts 300m downloads of polyphonic ringtones

In January 23, KDDI reached another milestone in ringtone downloads. The company announced 300 million downloads of Chaku Uta, a Japanese name for polyphonic ringtones.

Having started the Chaku Uta distribution in December 2002, KDDI saw the service gaining in popularity. It seems that the recent trend of full song downloads onto mobile phones did not impact the downloads of polyphonic ringtones in Japan. It took the company only nine months to go from 200 million Chaku Uta downloads in Aprill 2005 to 300 million in January 2006.

KDDI au brand also provides Chaku Uta Full, a full song download service for cellphones, from November 2004. The service proved to be popular among KDDI customers, claiming 2 million downloads in just two months after the rollout.

NEC chip: 50 hours of non-stop audio playback on cellphone

Credit: watch.impress.co.jp
NEC Electronics began shipping samples of its new audio processor for mobile handsets the "μPD99910" for JPY1,500 ($13).

The good thing about this chip is that it enables non-stopable song playback for 50 hours, according to the company. No doubts, the longer playback capability of the handset will be a great differentiator for cellphone manufacturers. However, at the price of $13, the "μPD99910" will significantly add to the final price of mobile phone.

NEC plans to start the mass production of the "μPD99910" in April 2006 with an output capacity of 400,000 chips per month.

Vendor's site: NEC Electronics

Chaku-uta Full for Vodafone

Label Mobile rolled out two websites adapted for Vodafone Live! mobile portal in Japan. Each site will offer full-length songs for download onto cell phones of Vodafone’s customers.

First site is focused on Japanese music and contains 3,500 records. Meanwhile, the other one targets the fans of western music and offers 1,200 songs for download. The sites will utilize a pay-as-you-go billing model, charging ¥210~¥420 ($1.90~$3.80) per song.

Source: K-tai Watch

KDDI Announces EZ 'Chaku Uta Full' Downloads Exceed 5 Million

Another breaking point for KDDI au brand, EZ Chaku Uta Full downloads surpassed 5 million on April 3, 2005.

For those who don't know, EZ "Chaku Uta Full" is a music download service through which an entire song can be downloaded directly onto a mobile handset.

Chaku-Uta Full: 1 million downloads per month

The number of Chaku-Uta Full downloads is accelerating with every month. Having announced 2 million downloads just a month ago, KDDI added another million downloads in February, resulting in 3 million MP3 song downloads since the service's rollout in November 2004.

Currently, there are 10 portals offering about 13,000 records. KDDI reported 410,000 Chaku-Uta Full service compatible handsets sold by the end of 2004. There were four cell phone models for sale with Chaku-Uta Full support: W21CA, W21T, W22H, W22H. The songs are priced in a range of 200-300 Japanese Yen, which is about $1.90~$2.90.

I can imagine what will happen when they offer more songs for download and more handsets with extended memory. Japan will be the first country where iPod is beaten by cell phones. Well, if iPod in turn doesn't come up with a model with integrated voice communication feature.