Mobile news a big hit in Japan

Steve Outing in E-Media Tidbits reports that SMS premium services delivering text news are a big hit with young people in Japan, who consult the services during "dead times" (waiting for a bus, at a restaurant...). Yasuhiro Kobayashi, who's company own six different sites for mobile-phone users, has more than 1 million subscribers paying 100 yen (US$0.80) per month for access. The fees are collected through the subscribers monthly phone bills.

For what it's worth, I gave a class lask week in (very text-litterate) Switzerland to 25-40 year-old PR students on SMS. When asked how many of them subscribed to a premium SMS service, only one did, out of 25 (to an SMS radar alert). No one in this class had even signed up for the 3 text alerts offered on the G8 Summit, (very) relevant to the high charged events going on in the cities where they live (Lausanne and Geneva). Though this sample group is slightly older than those mentioned in Steve Outing's article (20s+)

emily | 7:33 PM | SMS Services offered by the Press |
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