1/27/2005

Of course DoCoMo is not the only one to emphasize the music playing capabilities of its new Music Porter (”music“, got it?). AU and Vodaphone are there too. In fact, AU really are in tune and are pushing the music thing as much as they can. There new slogan (which started a little before Xmas) is “Need music?”, and there is little chance to misunderstand their point…

From the ads in the trains to their catalogs, everything is done for the users to realize that buying a portable mp3 player is not such a good idea.

In fact, when looking at the latest AU catalog, one could almost be mistaken and think it is a brochure for an mp3 player shop.

A while ago, when cameras in mobile phones were the edge, big electronic retailers were displaying prints of snapshots taken by the keitai, next to the keitai itself. Potential buyers could have a look at the specs, the coolness/colors/buttons, and the actual photos taken from the tiny camera at the same time. Now, music is the feature to market, and one can find speakers and/or headphones alongside the keitai, on the display, to try out the music performance of the phone before buying it. A nice marketing side-effect is that people spend more time playing with the phone, while they listen to the music.

AU is not only trying to sell more phones, they also push their music download business service forward, through their music-enabled phones. First you can play your mp3’s, then you naturally download new songs (in one click) straight from your keitai. If Apple could do it with the iPod and iTunes Music Store (and with the iTunes compatible Motorola phone to be released soon), AU and the other mobile phones providers must try to ride that wave too. Their phones don’t have the same cool (nor the same low-low pricetag) as the new iPod Shuffle, but since you gotta have a phone in your pocket anyway, why buy one that doesn’t play music? Actually, the TV ad (CM) for NTT DoCoMo’s Music Porter is even selling it as a “Music player, sometimes a mobile phone”…

So, everyone is jumping in and trying to sell music as being the ultimate option this winter? Even Vodafone? Yes, they have this ad campaign where a guy seems to be so happy he can listen to music, he keeps on screaming and wearing strange colors and strange clothes. First Beckham, then that? Vodafone Japan sure as a strange way to advertise.

Ok, just one last ad, in case you didn’t get you NEED to get an mp3 player in your mobile phone yet.
One of the faces of AU is the extremely beautiful and popular actress/talento Nakama Yukie. Of course, she’s listening to her music on her keitai too…

(If you are interested in specs of these mobile phones, let us know in the comments below and we’ll post a description of the phones individually)