Japan has world's largest mobile Internet population

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on December 31, 2007 at 5:08 PM

Currently, 90 percent of all Japanese citizens own a mobile phone, and four out of 10 mobile owners use them to access the Internet, giving Japan the world's largest mobile Internet population, eMarketer announced Friday.

The group's Japan Online Overview estimates that the number of Internet users in Japan reached 89.1 million in 2007.

Because Japan has the second largest economy in the world, and the tenth largest population, its citizens online usage impacts markets around the world, eMarketer reported.

Nine in 10 Japanese citizens under age 40 are already online, the group stated in its report.

Business Week reported last week that Japan's top mobile phone carrier, NTT DoCoMo, will join forces with Google to provide online search and e-mail services on the company's handsets, which could launch as early as the spring.

At that time, mobile users will be able to access Google search, e-mail, scheduling and photo-saving features through the carrier's i-Mode Internet network, Business Week reported, citing Japanese business daily The Nikkei. The two companies are planning to integrate the search feature with the handset's software, to allow for new services development.

Tokyo-based DoCoMo Inc. is also contemplating using Google's free mobile operating system to develop a next-generation handset, which could be launched in the second half of 2008, according to Business Week.