[about business]

Japans smartphones are called keitai. These phones contain a

high-resolution camera, a projector, and near-fi eld communication
capability. Consider the case of a Japanese woman who uses
her keitai to scan a QR code (discussed later in this chapter) at
a Tokyo bus stop. A timetable appears instantly on her screen,
along with the estimated arrival time of the next bus. When her bus
arrives, she uses her keitai to pay by simply waving it close to the
payment terminal in the front of the bus.
Because the keitai are NFC equipped, they can function as boarding
passes and tickets for trains, airplanes, and events. They also
allow users to check into hotels, and they even serve as electronic
room keys. Keitai also act as electronic wallets (e-wallets). Customers
can input a credit of up to 50,000 yen over the Internet and then use
their keitai to buy groceries at convenience stores, pay taxi drivers,
and purchase goods from Japans ubiquitous vending machines.
Japans leading airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA), has been
using e-wallets to compete with the countrys fast trains for several
years. As one ANA spokesperson explained, The major drawback
of fl ying compared to train travel is, of course, the time spent at
the airport.
With ANAs all-in-one keitai ticket and boarding pass, passengers
can arrive and board their planes in 15 minutes or less, even going
through security checkpoints. This service, called SKiP, uses an
e-wallet technology developed by communications company NTT.
Keitai are also equipped with GPS technology, which makes
them very useful navigation tools. The Total Navigation site on
a keitai displays three-dimensional maps and directions on the
screen. If a user is holding the phone while navigating, it will
vibrate to alert the driver to upcoming turns.
Keitai also help visitors cope with the Japanese language. For
example, menus in Japanese restaurants are invariably written
only in Japanese. Using a keitai, a visitor can take a picture of a
meal, and the phone describes in English what the meal actually is.
This is a valuable tool for many restaurants, because Japan relies
on tourists for needed revenue. Other applications allow users to
bring up menus, reviews, and translations by other users simply by
focusing the phones mobile camera at the restaurant itself.
In Kyoto, the Hyatt Regency offers an iPhone rental service that
pinpoints guests locations and beams target text, video, and graphics
to inform, help, and guide them around the area. The hotel augments
this service with advice and suggestions from the concierge.
The keitai are also equipped with augmented reality (AR). AR apps
know where users are, and they beam location-relevant information
to their phones. This information is superimposed on the camera
viewfi nder on the phones screen. AR apps in Japan also add tagging
and social networking. Like other AR apps, the keitai calculates the
users position and then, using the camera, displays location-specifi c
information graphically on top of the users real-world view.
Interestingly, individuals and businesses can add their own
information to these AR apps. They point the phones camera at
the landscape, adding tags that can include text, images, and
sound that can be picked up later by other users in the area. Tags
can translate into coupons from businesses or travel trips from
friends and colleagues.
Sources: Compiled from D. Balaban, Japan Airlines Set to Launch First
NFC Boarding Passes, NFC Times, September 27, 2012; NFC in the USA:
Learning From Japan, Travers Collins, July 2, 2012; M. Keferl, Near-Field
Communication Is Shifting Marketing in Japan, Advertising Age, June 12,
2012; M. Fitzpatrick, Near Field Communication Transforms Travel in
Japan, BBC News, April 28, 2011; S. Clark, NTT Adds New Mobile Marketing
Capabilities to Japans Osaifu-Keitai Mobile Wallet Service, Near
Field Communications World, June 16, 2010; S. Toto, Separate Keitai:
Meet Japans Sexiest New Handset, TechCrunch, February 5, 2010;
Japanese Cell Phone Culture, www.japaneselifestyle.com.au, accessed
February 13, 2013.

Questions
1. As the Japanese travel industry creates more applications of
technology for travel, what assumptions is it making about

tourists?
2. Which of the keitai apps would you fi nd most useful? Provide
specifi c examples of the app(s) and the way(s) in which you
would use them.
3. Do you see any problem with the social networking aspect of
AR apps? Support your answer.

Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi). Wireless fi delity (Wi-Fi) is a medium-range WLAN, which is

a wired LAN but without the cables. In a typical confi guration, a transmitter with an antenna,
called a wireless access point (see Figure 8.3), connects to a wired LAN or to satellite dishes
that provide an Internet connection. A wireless access point provides service to a number of
users within a small geographical perimeter (up to a couple of hundred feet), known as a hotspot.
Multiple wireless access points are needed to support a larger number of users across a larger
geographical area. To communicate wirelessly, mobile devices, such as laptop PCs, typically have
a built-in wireless network interface capability.
Wi-Fi provides fast and easy Internet or intranet broadband access from public hotspots
located at airports, hotels, Internet cafs, universities, conference centers, offi ces, and homes

(see Figure 8.4). Users can access the Internet while walking across a campus, to their offi ce, or
through their homes. In addition, users can access Wi-Fi with their laptops, desktops, or PDAs
by adding a wireless network card. Most PC and laptop manufacturers incorporate these cards
in their PCs.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has established a set of standards
for wireless computer networks. The IEEE standard for Wi-Fi is the 802.11 family. As of
mid-2013, there were fi ve standards in this family:
802.11a: supports wireless bandwidth up to 54 Mbps; high cost; short range; diffi culty
penetrating
walls.
802.11b: supports wireless bandwidth up to 11 Mbps; low cost; longer range.
802.11g: supports wireless bandwidth up to 54 Mbps; high cost; longer range.
802.11n: supports wireless bandwidth exceeding 600 Mbps; higher cost than 802.11g; longer
range than 802.11g.
802.11ac: a standard fi nalized in late 2012 that will support wireless bandwidth of 1 Gbps
(1 billion bits per second); expected to reach the general market by early 2014.
The major benefi ts of Wi-Fi are its low cost and its ability to provide simple Internet access.
It is the greatest facilitator of the wireless Internetthat is, the ability to connect to the Internet
wirelessly.
Corporations are integrating Wi-Fi into their strategies. For example, Starbucks, McDonalds,
Panera, and Barnes & Noble offer customers Wi-Fi in many of their stores, primarily for Internet
access. The airlines are also getting in on the Wi-Fi act, as you see in ITs About Business 8.4.
Although Wi-Fi has become extremely popular, it is not without problems. Three factors are
preventing the commercial Wi-Fi market from expanding even further: roaming, security, and
cost.
At this time, users cannot roam from hotspot to hotspot if the hotspots use different Wi-Fi
network services. Unless the service is free, users have to log on to separate accounts and,
where required, pay a separate fee for each service. (Some Wi-Fi hotspots offer free service,
while others charge a fee.)
Security is the second barrier to greater acceptance of Wi-Fi. Because Wi-Fi uses radio
waves, it is diffi cult to shield from intruders.
The fi nal limitation to greater Wi-Fi expansion is cost. Even though Wi-Fi services are relatively
inexpensive, many experts question whether commercial Wi-Fi services can survive
when so many free hotspots are available to users.