Sony to sell comics on mobiles in Japan

We have seen videos on mobiles and we have seen downloadable songs on mobiles. Entertainment giant Sony is now targeting to broadcast comics on mobile phones. The company plans to begin selling comics via mobile telephones in Japan where the market is still small with few competitors but is growing rapidly. The demand is quite high for the country’s “manga” cartoons and this has got Sony hooked to this industry.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is a branch of the entertainment giant and has collaborated with10 popular Japanese comic artists. This would enable them to deliver the content to users of third-generation (3G) telephones. The company plans to make available around 300 manga books for download in the initial stages. Sony plans to charge around 315 yen, or about three dollars, per month to receive a minimum of five stories.

There are more players in the market like NTT Solmare, a unit of telecom giant NTT, and Toppan Printing. However, Sony is expected to dominate the proceedings from now on. They would have more content channels on offer and they have an entertainment branch, which can provide exclusive content to users of the services provided by the company.

One of the competitors, Toppan Printing’s representative said in a statement: “Sony’s entrance to the market will be a good stimulus for growth of this new market.” The company provides around 50 titles for download to their users.