28th
Device Fragmentation Comes to Japan
With the rise of Android, Windows Mobile and the iPhone in Japan the market is becoming much more fragmented and difficult to navigate for mobile application developers.
Unlike overseas markets where a single J2ME application would normally require modification to run on different handsets, even within one manufacturer’s range of products, a well crafted DoJa application will run unmodified on all DoCoMo handsets that implement the DoJa specification. In addition to this it has always been a relatively simple and inexpensive task to port a DoJa application to a J2ME (JSCL) application capable of running on Softbank handsets, and vice versa. As a result a carefully written Java application could reach over two thirds of the Japanese mobile market.
Devices from Japan’s third major carrier, KDDI, primarily run applications developed in C/C++ utilizing the BREW framework and has traditionally been supported by far fewer mobile application developers in Japan. Porting of applications between Java and BREW, while not impossible, often proves to be a time consuming and expensive task.
As a result Japanese mobile application developers formed into 2 major camps, those developing applications in Java for DoCoMo and Softbank handsets, and those utilizing the BREW framework to develop for KDDI’s devices. The markets for each of those camps have been more than large enough in the past to ensure that both groups of developers survive and profit.
It is only recently with the introduction and growing user interest in Android, Windows Mobile, and the iPhone that the market has started to fragment significantly and adapting to a fragmented market is going to be a challenge for Japanese developers.
The general mood amongst mobile application developers in Japan is that while exploding in popularity overseas the iPhone and Android devices won’t attract significant developer share in Japan until the local user base improves. The Japanese mobile phenomenon that served as the model for the mobile internet that is emerging world wide, evolved in isolation within Japan, and as a result Japanese developers are still limited by their myopic view that their user base does not extend beyond the Japanese market. So until Japanese market conditions improve for Android and the iPhone don’t expect to see Japanese developers joining the ranks in droves.
While Japanese developers procrastinate on the decision of which platforms to support, overseas engineers are busy improving and localizing their products into Japanese. Their established brands, and applications could just corner the Japanese market, making Japanese developers irrelevant.
