As I noted several weeks ago, Japan's researchers and business people are tying into mobile phone users. Here is how one of the major newspapers in Japan is hoping to build readership with the elusive younger reader....from Poynter.org

Posted by Norbert Specker 12:10:22 PM Mobile-Phone Lifeline Online Journalism Review's Japan Media Review offers an insightful story on Asahi Shimbun's remarkable success with its interactive division serving mobile-phone users. Some 1 million users at $1 apiece per month are the current numbers. Even more interesting are the strategic implications of the mainly sports- and entertainment-oriented content in the predominantly youth-oriented mobile market. Asahi is losing subscriptions and readership, as are almost all newspapers in the developed world, and the phones are a precarious lifeline to the youth age group. That's all the more important, as the Asahi website does not turn a profit and only reports yearly advertising revenues of $7 million. (With a print circulation of 12 million, this is clearly below its potential.)