Presentation at M-Enabling Summit on December 6, 2011

1. Mobile and Accessibility
A Japanese Perspective
M-Enabling Summit
December 6, 2011
Kazuhito Kidachi
Mitsue-Links Co., Ltd.

2. About Mitsue-Links
• Tokyo based information
integrator
• Founded in July of 1990
• 275 employees (including
4 accessibility-specific
staff)
• Provides usability testing
for smartphones and
tablet devices service etc.
Photo by kazuhito http://www.flickr.com/photos/kazuhito/6188142498/

3. Mobile Phone in Japan
Photo by Ndecam http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndecam/6215259872/

4. Mobile Phone in Japan
• The Japanese feature phone
was one of the most
technologically advanced
phones in the world
• Electric money, TV,
Camera, etc
• "Raku-Raku PHONE" by
docomo is targeted for
beginners and older people
• Galapagos phone market Photo by jetalone http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetalone/3014530431/

5. Photo by kawanet http://www.flickr.com/photos/u-suke/100870738/
Photo by keyaki http://www.flickr.com/photos/keyaki_no_kokage/2184718017/ Photo by Soctech http://www.flickr.com/photos/soctech/105327527/

6. Smartphone changed
Galapagos market
• First iPhone (3G) in Japan: July 2008
• First Android phone (HT-03A): July 2009
• iPhone was popular at first, but Android
phones have caught up
• Features which are available for Japanese
feature phones are added to Android phones
• Trends: from feature phone to smartphone,
from iPhone to Android phone

7. Projection of Smartphone Shipment Japan
Number of Units Sold / Ratio of All Phones Sold
100% 40M
30.56M
75% 28.96M 30M
27.06M
74.0%
23.67M 69.9%
66.7%
19.86M 60.1%
50% 20M
49.0%
25% 8.55M 10M
22.7%
0% 0M
FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015
Ratio of All Phones Sold Number of Units sold (Unit: Million)
Source: MM Research Institute Forecast (July 2011)

8. SNS and Accessibility
Photo by stroud4341 http://www.flickr.com/photos/markstroud/5598006580/

9. SNS and Accessibility
• Massive earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011
• Many people recognize that Social Networking
Service (SNS) is useful
• Phone call didn't work well because of
congestion
• Accessibility of social networking sites/apps is
vital (Smartphone works well with SNS)
• Popular SNS in Japan: Facebook, Twitter and mixi

10. Population of older
people increases rapidly
• In 2050, 40% of Age composition (%) of 65 and over in Japan
Japanese are 40
projected to be 30
older than 65 years
20
• Accessibility of 10
mobile devices, sites
and apps is 0
2020 2030 2040 2050
necessary for older
Projection as of Dec. 2006
people too Source: The Statistical Handbook of Japan 2011

11. Accessibility Guideline
in Japan (1)
• JIS X 8341-3 published by Japanese Standards
Association (JSA)
• Applicable to national and local government
agencies
• Released in 2004, updated in 2010
• Developed based on WCAG 2.0
• Web Accessibility Infrastructure Committee
(WAIC) is responsible for spreading JIS X 8341-3

12. http://www.ciaj.or.jp/access/web/

13. Accessibility Guideline
in Japan (2)
• If WCAG 2.0 covers mobile web/apps, then JIS
X 8341-3:2010 also covers them
• Four principles seem to work for mobile,
but techniques for mobile are necessary
• e.g. user-scalable="no" in viewport meta
element should be prohibited in terms of
Sucess Criterion 1.4.4 (Resize text)

14. Smartphone
Accessibility Features
• VoiceOver of iPhone is available, but not useful for
Japanese
• Many kanji characters have the same pronunciation
(e.g. and ) and screen reader users need to
identify a unique kanji character
• VoiceOver doesn't provide distinctive explanations for
kanji
• Global smartphone OS needs "built-in" accessibility
features in multiple languages

15. A Japanese Perspective
• More people including older people will use
smartphones/mobile devices to access the web
• Mobile web and apps should be accessible
• Accessibility of SNS is specifically demanded
• Designers/developers need WCAG techniques for
smartphones/mobile devices
• Smartphones/mobile devices should provide
accessibility features by default
• Global phones/devices need to support multiple
languages