Saturday, October 23, 2010

Junior and High School Girls and Cellphones

In Japan, cellphones are everywhere. I even see small children, in first and second grade, at my son's school who have their own cellphones.

Many adults in Japan have more than one cellphone and I personally know some guys who have three or more (one guy told me he had a different phone for every girlfriend so that he doesn't confuse them when they call).

But the one slice of the pie here in Japan that is just incredible is the junior high school and high school girl segment of the market. These girls are devouring novels on their cellphones as fast as they can get them.

CS Monitor reports:


Media-sharing website Maho i-Land boasts 1 million online books and 6 million users who read and/or write novels on the website for free. Many users tap away and compose using their cellphones, simply following a word limit of 1,000 or less characters per page. Budding authors can choose to “publish” their online story immediately or keep it unlisted. Many upload their content as they finish and choose to receive feedback from readers. Authors respond to feedback by fixing mistakes and sometimes changing the story lines. The most successful authors get their stories printed.
Keitai novels make up a roughly $36 million market annually,” says Shigeru Matsushima, an editor at Starts Publishing Co.

That explains a lot. I often see these girls on their phones just enraptured by what they are reading. If it were a friend's e-mail or text, it would be short, right? But these girls will stare at their phones for 20 or 30 minutes straight. If they are reading cellphone novels, then that would explain it.

Who says young people today don't read?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope these young girls take care of their eyes. After looking at small screens for extended periods of time, their eyesight may go bad quickly.

I guess Megane Super and other eyeglass retailers will enjoy increased business over the years...

salil said...

another trillion dollar market or at least billion dollar market

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