bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

David McNeill

There was a time when Japanese commuters left home in the morning clutching a newspaper and a boxed bento lunch. Today, the list is more elaborate: MP3 player, 3.2-megapixel camera, navigation system, digital TV tuner and Web browser - all squeezed into a palm-sized device that costs about the price of a good sushi meal. 
Millions of Japanese also use cellphones to read novels, magazines and office files, to make credit card payments, watch hours of recorded television and even check body fat.
Over the past decade, consumers in  the gizmo-loving nation have enjoyed a string of technological firsts. Japan pioneered the use of handsets to connect to the internet in 1999, download music (2002) and watch digital TV (2006). It was the first country to launch 3G wireless networks (2001), and is still one of the few to allow - since 2004 - mobile phones to be used as credit cards and train and bus passes. 
Cellphone networks in Japan are so advanced that providers are struggling with problems the rest of the world has hardly considered - such as surging demand for high-bandwidth porn. Local operators are building next-generation networks that will give Japan's 92 million surfers even more bang for their recession-hit buck.
'People always tell me how jealous they are of Japanese cellphone technology when I go abroad,' says Tadayuki Yamada, a Tokyo office worker. 'I think we're pretty spoiled.'
However, such innovations have not prevented the market from slowing. Subscriptions are falling and, since peaking three years ago at 50 million, total handset sales by the 10 or so domestic manufacturers shrunk to 36 million last year, according to Tokyo-based IT research company MM. 
'Until now we have had our hands full with the Japanese market, but it is clearly saturated,' says Heihachiro Ochiai, a spokesman for Sharp. 'We think this is an opportunity to introduce consumers abroad to our products, which we're confident they will like.'
Japan's top handset maker, with about a quarter of local sales, Sharp is leading  the charge with a smartphone set for launch in Europe next year. Sales trials in China have been 'very impressive' says Ochiai. Toshiba launched its TG-01 this year, lighter than the all-conquering iPhone and with a whopping  4.1-inch touchscreen, super-fast 1GHz chip and Windows-powered operating system. 
Panasonic is planning a foreign smartphone campaign, but giving few details, only that the launch date is 'under consideration', says spokesman Kyoko Ishii. Fujitsu, NEC and Casio are also lining up behind the only Japanese maker with any presence outside Japan - Sony Ericsson. 
Can products that have developed mostly in isolation from outside competition (global leader Nokia has less than 1 per cent market share in Japan) make a real dent abroad? Yes, says Osamu Hirose, a senior analyst at the Tokai Research Centre in Tokyo. 'Japanese cellphones are among the most sophisticated  in the world, so I think they have a good chance of making a splash in foreign markets.' 
But tech watcher Mark Hiratsuka, publisher of Digitalworldtokyo.com, says exporting Japan's 'ugly, cluttered handsets' as they are will bomb in the West. 
Hiratsuka says Japanese mobiles have access to some wonderful and genuinely useful services, 'but are hampered by generally awful hardware and a market that seems to dictate more features are crammed in than anyone needs.' 
The result is messy software and clunky phones. 
'Hence, something slick like the iPhone kicks them all into touch,' he says.
Either way, the large Japanese manufacturers have little choice but to venture overseas. Apart from plummeting sales, the iPhone is chipping away at market share since its debut in Japan last year.  Its success  is helping its local partner Softbank Mobile outperform much bigger local competitors NTT DoCoMo and KDDI. Softbank is enjoying subscriber growth of 11 per cent per quarter,  more than double that of competitors, says London-based researcher Wireless Intelligence. Meanwhile, Japan's  Korean rival Samsung is already marching ahead in Europe, where it has reportedly sold two million units of its Jet smartphone.
If some people are feeling a tinge of deja vu, that's because we've been here before. In the late 1990s the tech world was agog at the smart toys rolling off Japan's cellphone production line, and Japanese makers were potentially major players abroad. But most were not geared up to compete with foreign rivals and they quickly crashed,  says Philip Sugai, director of  the Mobile Consumer Lab at the International University of Japan. 
'The 3G network created by NTT DoCoMo helped it corner more than half of the Japanese market after 2001, for example, but also ensured its handsets were unusable outside the country. Meanwhile, the Japanese market was big enough and subsidised enough and the makers didn't have to worry,' adds Sugai, who  says it's  time to try again.  
'You have a group of incredibly skilled, talented manufacturers that have done amazing things here, but couldn't replicate that abroad. Now they have 10-plus years of creating handsets for a highly sophisticated market, so I view this as a positive step.' 
What, then, can foreign consumers expect? A hallmark of Japanese cellphones is they are crammed with features - too crammed, say some commentators who accuse Japanese makers of 'feature creep' (one estimate is that on average less than 10 per cent of the features are actually used). Newer models, for example, have 5.1-megapixel cameras, navigation systems, three-inch  televisions, LED torches and games loaded with motion sensors to allow them to be played on the train. Oh, and they can make calls too. Few observers believe that will play well with Western consumers, who are accustomed to clean, simple lines. 
'One reason - apart from its fantastic applications - that the iPhone is doing well in Japan is because it is so easy to use,' says Tadayuki Shinozaki, chief researcher at MM. 'Japanese manufacturers will have to look at that carefully.'
But those same manufacturers also bring plenty to the table, including large, vivid  screens, quick applications and sharp design - when they temper the instinct to chuck in the kitchen sink. And they are constantly inventive: solar power and waterproofing are just two of the most recent innovations to cellphones. A current Sharp model even includes face-recognition technology that stops the phone from powering up for anybody but its owner. NTT DoCoMo's e-payment system Osaifu Keitai (wallet cellphone), which uses Sony's FeliCa technology, has also been praised. The system features RFID chips embedded into handsets, turning them into electronic wallets that communicate with ticket barriers, store checkouts and vending machines. 
With DoCoMo preparing for an assault on the US market, Hiratsuka says it should be pushing for a worldwide standard for e-cash  in phones. 
'Do that instead of fussing about having more features than the next guy, and they'll be gods,' he says. 
In the meantime, only time will tell if it is second time lucky for the Japanese mobile-phone armada, and if it will be worth the wait.



Hard cell