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Europe’s mobile phone market is old news to Japanese consumers as many features of today’s European handsets are showing their age in Japan’s advanced mobile world.

With iPhones introduction to the market, Europeans are hooked on the wave of new technology which is becoming more widely available. But over in Japan, both the consumers and manufacturers are finding Steve Jobs’ line about “reinventing” the phone hard to swallow.

Mobile phones are a common accessory in Japan, driven by Japan's decision to be the first country to upgrade to third-generation mobile-phone networks, or 3G, which increase broadband capabilities and allow for better transmission of voice and data. Mobiles are used more in every day life, unlike Europe, where the only things mobile phones are used for are basic communication, gaming, cameras and mp3 players. Besides downloading music and surfing the Net, the Japanese use their mobile phones to navigate their way home by global positioning systems, to buy movie tickets and to update personal blogs from wherever they are.

What’s interesting is that Apples new iPhone will only operate on 2.5G. It is surprising that Apple hasn’t opted for 3G to gain more of a competitive stance over its touch screen rivals.  Followers of the iPhone where shocked, when not only the camera was of a poor quality, but the technology behind the iPhone could have been greatly improved, through the help of a partnership with Softbank Corp, the third largest cellular carrier in Japan. But Softbank released a statement back in May, calling the speculation ‘guess work’ by the media and neither denies, or gives information about the so called partnership. With the release of the iPhone, it is clear that Softbank had no input into the manufacture, a downfall for iPhone in many eyes.

In Japan, it was 3G that sparked the boom in music downloads that makes it common for phones to be used as portable digital music players. First and Second Generation mobile phones are a thing of the past for the Japanese, as they eagerly wait for 4G to be introduced into their society, which is set to be released in Europe in 2010.  It hopefully will include a higher capacity, be completely IP- oriented, high quality multimedia services, and data transfer to hundreds of megabits.

It is also 3G which has led the Japanese into a world where they can watch TV live on their mobiles and use the handsets as top up cards to travel on trains. They can also buy milk at the corner shop or grab a taxi with the phones exciting technology. Ticket Pia, Japan's major entertainment ticketing agency, has been selling e-mail tickets to mobile phones since October 2003. The phones also can be used for conference calls among as many as five people.

An amazing feature of Japanese 3G phones is the ability to point the mobile phone camera at bar codes and be directed to specific websites. At every seat in the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball stadium, there is a barcode integrated into the seats, which once swiped, takes the mobile phone to a special home page where users can subscribe and get the latest inside information and columns available on the team site. Also, every game can be watched live on a phone, meaning instant coverage for the avid fans.

This pervasiveness and the particularities of the Japanese’s usage of their phones lead to the development of a mobile phone culture, or “keitai culture.” This culture will hit Europe in time, but because of the lack of research into the technology readily available, who knows when this will be.

From Japans point of view, the iPhone is nothing spectacular. But maybe they will be impressed by the new NEO1973, dubbed as the phone for developers.  It is based on open hardware specifications and uses a Free Software operating system platform known as GNU/Linux which means that all the hardware and software code is open to developers, engineers and designers to build on and potentially create things even far more exciting than the current Apple iPhone, which is a closed book when it comes to customizing. The openmoko phone is almost completely open, using closed-source/proprietary subsystems only for the GSM/GPRS and AGPS (assisted GPS) components.

You may also download software and install as much as you like. You can also modify the source to that software and develop your own software for distribution. You are also able to write your own games, GPS applications, PIM software, media players and phone applications. One big surprise is that you are also able to modify the default software which comes preinstalled on the phone, making you able to tailor your phone to suit your needs.

The NEO1973 will be US$150 cheaper than the iPhone, with no service provider contract required, and will be available hopefully in February, making an entrance to the mobile market a long time before the iPhone is set to go on release.

Hopefully in time, Japanese technology will make its way over here, so we too can benefit. It goes to show how far behind our country is with its technology, and how our ‘new releases’ may not be so new on the other side of the world.