Japan Vs. US (Mobile & Mobile Web Stats)

Some interesting stats from the June 2008 edition of Fast Company.

It appears that 100M out of a Japanese population of 127M subscribe to cell phones, which is slightly lower on a percentage basis (79%) than the US, where 255M out of 301M subscribe (85%). Score one for the US for higher cell phone penetration.

However, in terms of usage of mobile web, about 54M (43%) Japanese cell phone users are active, compared to just 35M (12%) in the US. Score one for Japan for higher mobile web penetration.

Here's the tiebreaker. Whereas Japanese mobile users racked up $10B (about $185 per person) in mobile commerce purchases, US users racked up less than 5% of that - $480M (about $13 per person).

There are certainly cultural and lifestyle differences that could explain the phenomenon, but it would appear that the US is headed to the same place, with all those cell phone subscribers hanging around...