Japan: Internet on mobile phone more prevalent than by PC

Okay, so it’s a given that the majority of your waking hours are spent away from home, but if you have a job that plants you in front of a computer, there’s a good chance that you’re hopping on the internet there. If your job doesn’t hook you up with a PC — say with a skilled trade or retail sales, for example — you probably won’t be chatting up on a cell phone, either. That’s why it seems a little odd, to me at least, that according to a recent report, more citizens of Japan access the interweb via a cell phone than those who do with a personal computer.

My assumption is that just about everyone sports both a home computer (or a laptop) and a mobile phone these days, but perhaps broadband internet charges are too expensive for some folk, whereas the FOMA 3G goodness that blankets the land of the rising sun is more affordable and more accessible.

According to this report by the Japanese government, 69.2 million people use their mobile phones for internet purposes, whereas a mere 66 million access the web via PC. At the same time, mobile phone internet users are 11% more likely than PC users to go online at least once a day (presumably for email).