Japanology A (日本学 A)

携帯ウェブ: ウェブの一部か別世界か・The Mobile Web: A Part of the Web or a Separate World

2006 年 6月19日

http://www.sw.it.aoyama.ac.jp/2006/Japanology/lecture3.html

Questions we will think about today

Relationship between Internet/Web and mobile phones
Structure of mobile phone business in different countries
Structure of mobile phone technology/applications/business vs. Internet technology/applications/business

Internet/Web Technology Structure

(bottom to top)

IP: Packet routing from source to destination
TCP: Avoid packet loss by resending; congestion control
HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol: Request Web pages,...
HTML: Hypertext Markup Language: Describe Web pages
URI: Uniform Resource Identifier: Identify Web resources

Packet Switching vs. Circuit Switching

Circuit Switching:

Build up a fixed connection between two points
Very good for constant traffic between two parties
Charged per time

Packet Switching:

Flexibly route data packets from sender to receiver
Very good for varying traffic between many parties
Charged per packet or at a fixed rate

Network and Application Structure

Internet:

Network is fast but stupid, endpoints are intelligent
Pay for bandwidth
Application-independent

Phone networks:

Terminals are simple and stupid, network provides applications
Pay for services/applications

Operators vs. Manufacturers

Operators operate mobile networks and sell their services to customers

Manufacturers produce mobile handsets, base stations, exchanges,...

In Japan, operators dictate technology and sell everything

In other countries, manufacturers agree on technology and then sell it to operators. Operators sell connectivity an services, handsets may be available separately.

Mobile Phone Generations

1st generation: Analog voice
2nd generation: Digital voice
3rd generation: Digital voice and data
4th generation: Digital voice and very high speed data

many interim generations (3.5, 3.75,...)

Japan has been "out of sync" for a long time

WAP

Wireless Application Protocol
Design "Philosophy": almost like Internet, just a little different because mobiles are oh so different
Original motivation: Strictly limited data channel on GSM infrastructure; tried to squeeze out every drop of bandwidth
WAP 2.0 is more close to IP/TCP/HTTP/HTML
Used by KDDI and Vodafone without using name

Reasons for WAP failure

Too expensive
Too slow
Not enough content
Overmarketed

i-Mode

Mobile Web service by NTT DoCoMo

Original motivation: Overcapacity data network
Reusing existing technology (in particular HTML: Compact HTML)
Rapid deployment
Targeted at mass market
Relatively cheap
Lots of content

Official vs. Original Sites

'Official' sites:

Reachable from phone menu structure
Hosted by operator
Not accessible from other operators or on the Internet
May charge for services via operator

'Original' sites:

Reachable with Web address (URI)
Hosted anywhere, accessible from anywhere
Cannot charge via operator

The Web for Everybody

Network effects: More users → more content → more users,...
Device independence: Do not assume fixed screen size,...
Accessibility: Do not assume people see Web pages with their eyes,...
Internationalization: From content internationalization to internationalization of identifiers (Domain names, URIs→IRIs)
Use standards! Follow guidelines!

Future Developments

Homework

Submit to 国際交流センター by Monday, July 3rd, 14:00)

Size: A4, two sheets maximum, use one or both sides

Compare Japanese mobile phones, the services they offer, and their usage in society, with the mobile phones and their usage in another (e.g. your home) country. You may focus on a particular service or a group of services.
Back up your research with information/data from the Web (other sources okay, too). Make sure you list up your sources.