Japanese phone users will also soon have more mobile music to listen to. Last year more than 90 percent of the 268 million digital songs purchased in Japan were downloaded over mobile services, instead of PC-based services like iTunes, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan. In the new models coming this fall, carriers have worked to improve sound and make downloading easier. For a new phone line, au worked with Yamaha to develop a new digital standard that improves the sound quality of songs on a mobile handset.

DoCoMo has lagged behind KDDI on the music front but unveiled a mobile music channel and high-speed handset last month. It automatically transmits an hourlong, podcast-style program to subscribers on a regular basis. “This is a way to enjoy listening to music passively as opposed to (actively programming) an iPod,” says DoCoMo spokesman Takushi Koinumaru. “This is something new, but we think there’s demand for it.”

The wireless companies’ ultimate goal is to further ensconce cell phones at the centre of their subscribers’ busy digital lives. “We are aiming to make our mobile phone a ‘personal gateway,”’ says KDDI spokesperson Maki Sato. Key to that effort is using the RFID chips now in most Japanese handsets to allow the phone to serve various functions, such as a corporate ID card, a TV remote control, a door key—and, most enticingly, a wallet. All three Japanese carriers currently allow subscribers to use their phones as prepaid debit cards, to buy everything from groceries to train tickets. With number portability now imminent, they are offering credit services as well. Subscribers can buy now with a wave of the phone and see the charges later, on their monthly phone bill.

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