Japanese developers Mobile Art Lab have come up with a unique way to mix technologies old and new.
The PhoneBook is just that – a phone combined with a book. You take a specially produced picture book with a “playing window” in it and then read the pages whilst interacting with the screen. The makers worked on the project under the slogan “Analog on the Digital Technology” and we think they succeeded. It’s certainly more interesting than other e-books we’ve seen!
The implications may be that kids will use iPhones with this application arguably not as phones but as reading tools. They will be able to own a library of these special picture books and, after downloading the application, read in a totally new way.
Check out the video for a demonstration!
William is an editor at ShiftEast.com, a translator, copywriter and researcher. 
Oh my God!
This is amazing, I am really surprised.
My only question is, why did they not choose Japanese people for the video spot?
Wow – what an ingenious idea to culminate reading and introducing kids to technology at a young age.
I thought it was odd not to feature Japanese in the CM as well, but it’s clearly shot in a house in Japan. From a marketing point of view, a video spot with Japanese people would make it considerably more likely to be linked around on tech blogs…
Novel, original and outstanding. I love it.
Amazing!
Easy, but so striking!