Watch superheroes fight evil -- on your mobile phone

Tag : japan mobile phone

By Sachi Izumi
TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - After taking on the big and smallscreens, comic book heroes like Spiderman and Superman may soon beappearing on an even smaller screen -- your mobile phone.
Suit-clad businessmen reading comic books are a common sight onJapanese trains, but they could soon be poring over their phoneswith publishers increasingly digitalizing their comics to cash inon the country's mobile-savvy consumers.
The July 11 launch of Apple Inc's APPL.O iPhone could also spur thegrowth of the mobile comic market as the device's touch-screenwould make it easier and more appealing to read comics on handsets,analysts say.
As the number of mobile phone subscribers approaches 108 million,or 85 percent of Japan's population, carriers are moving away fromvoice services, beefing up content services and data transmissionto increase revenues.
E-mailing, music-downloads and Internet surfing are alreadypopular, and analysts expect comics to be the next big thing withthe number of titles for mobile use soaring recently.
Comics led the size of the mobile publication market to double inthe last business year to 22 billion yen ($204 million), accordingto Internet and media research firm Impress R&D. The size isalmost three times bigger than the e-publication market for PCs.
"Until now, users had been extensively using mobile phones foremails," said Shinko Securities analyst Tomohiko Okugawa said. "Nowthat's shifting to games and comics ... this is the area it's goingto be very interesting."
Top mobile phone carriers -- NTT DoCoMo Inc, KDDI Corp, andSoftbank Corp -- recently unveiled handsets and services, enhancingfeatures like video downloads and animated e-mails, a move seenbenefiting content providers such as MTI Ltd , DeNA and Dwango. Continued...