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Perhaps an even bigger problem is that both Facebook and MySpace fail to offer an optimized version for Japanese handsets. Millions of Japanese are accustomed to using one thumb, a dialpad and a jog dial on their phones when accessing the web during their commutes to school and work. In this country, the mobile web is bigger than the PC web.

Offering a country-specific version before a local copycat beats you to it is an obvious key factor for success, and not only in Japan.

Practical experience from the Japanese web industry has shown that partnering up with a local company is the best way to diminish these dangers

In 2008 there were almost 162 million smartphones sold, surpassing notebook sales for the first time.

By 2013 almost four in every 10 handsets sold worldwide will be a smartphone.

Analysts at Informa Telecoms & Media are predicting that sales of phones using Google's Android operating system will outpace Apple's by 2012.

In the 2006 survey only 38 per cent of teens used their handset to listen to music; now 71 per cent of teenagers are using their mobiles as a portable mp3 player. 80 percent of teens in Singapore, Italy and Austria listened to music in this way, though teens in Japan and Finland listen to music on their mobiles the least.

Teens are now using their mobiles to simultaneously access information, communicate and have fun. The teen mobile phone market is competitive and lucrative; but it is clear that by developing phones that deliver an engaging user experience across applications, such as texting, listening to mp3s and playing games, mobile brands can attract a new teen audience to their devices.