- Thoroughly focused on ease of use for the elderly, greatly improving "quality of communication
- Information can be shared not only with grandparents, but also with siblings, cousins, and other family members.
- The function as a "watch over" service for parents' households has been further upgraded through a partnership with SECOM.
Due to the spread of the new coronavirus, many of you may have been unable to return home for Obon this year. Following the Golden Week holidays, relatives who were unable to see their grandchildren during the Obon season must be feeling quite lonely. The "Mago Channel," introduced here, may be able to help resolve such a situation. There are many image-sharing services that use PCs and smartphones, but what makes this service unique is that it allows users to share videos and photos using their own TVs at home. The editorial department of ......BabyTech.jp interviewed Mr. Tadahiro Ishii (hereafter, honorifics omitted), the public relations manager of Chikaku Corporation, which provides this service, to get an overview of the service, the development process, and the reaction of users. The following is an interview with Mr. Tadahiro Ishii, the public relations manager of Chikaku Inc.
(We spoke to...)
Chikaku Corporation assistant chief of staff, g2
Yuhiro Ishii
Its realism (i.e., quality of communication) overwhelmingly surpasses that of smartphones.
Editorial:Let me begin by giving you an overview of the "Mago Channel".
Ishii:Mago Channel" is a service that allows you to watch videos and photos sent from your smartphone app on your TV at home. All you need to do is connect the power supply to this unit and then connect it to your TV to start using it. Since the same communication functions as a smartphone are built into the device, there is no need to connect it to Wi-Fi, etc., so it can be used even in homes without an Internet environment. Incidentally, the data communication fee is a flat rate of 1,480 yen per month (tax not included).
Editorial:Is there anything else to set up?
Ishii:There is none. The rest can be operated with the TV remote control.
Editorial:This is easy!
Ishii:When a video or photo arrives, the window on the main unit lights up so you can immediately see it. For example, if a video or photo arrives while you are watching TV, you can watch the video or photo as if you were using the remote control to change channels. You can enjoy it just as if you were saying, "Shall I watch channel 1, channel 4, or the Mago Channel? Let's have a look.
Appearance of "Mago Channel
Video and photos are projected on your TV at home through "Mago Channel".
Editorial:......This is a completely different experience from what I had imagined! To be honest, until you showed me this in person, I couldn't imagine how different it would be from a service that shares videos and photos on a smartphone, but when viewed on the big screen of a TV, the children's lively expressions and movements come across much more straightforwardly than on the small screen of a smartphone.
Ishii:Thank you very much. I think the reason people have that kind of feeling is because when they watch the "Mago Channel" on their living room TV, they feel as if their life-size grandchildren are right there in their living room. When we visit users at their homes, they often tell us, "I can't help but talk to my grandchildren on TV and answer their questions" (laughs).
Editorial:I realized that "image sharing services using smartphones," "sending videos and photos via LINE," and the previously popular "sending images to a special photo frame service" are completely different things. The impact is totally different.
Ishii:Yes, we do. In fact, many grandparents who used to exchange videos and photos on their smartphones are very happy when they use "Mago Channel. The "Mago Channel" can store approximately 2,000 one-minute videos and 50,000 photos. Moreover, when a family member starts watching a video or photo, a notification is sent to the sender's app saying that they have started watching it.
Editorial:This could also be used as a safety confirmation, saying, "You are watching the 'Mago Channel' again today, so you seem to be doing well. Furthermore, the sender will be able to feel that "you are watching us," so they will be more inclined to send new videos and photos.
When you watch "Mago Channel," a notification is sent to the app.
Product born from the developer's own "communication gap with parents' households
Editorial:Can you tell us how the "Mago Channel" was developed?
Ishii: It was released in 2016. Our CEO, Kajiwara, is from Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture. He worked for Apple Japan in Tokyo, but after his child was born, he could not return home very often, so he tried to send his computer to his parents' house to share videos and photos. However, I received daily calls from people saying that they couldn't connect to the Internet or couldn't find their photos, so I wondered if there was a service that even the elderly could use easily ....... That was the origin of the development of the "Mago Channel". After retiring from Apple, I gave a demonstration at a friend's parents' house, and as soon as the real "grandchildren's picture" appeared on the screen, people started asking, "How much can I get for this? The response was so positive that he decided to launch the business with confidence.
Editorial:After all, the representative's personal experience is the starting point.
Ishii:As you can see from the way we conducted demonstrations before the launch, we place a great deal of importance on user feedback. For example, in the accompanying instruction manual, we try to use as little jargon as possible to make it easier for the elderly to understand. This was done by Kajiwara visiting coffee shops where elderly people gather, having them actually read the manual, and repeatedly correcting any parts that were unclear (......). As a result, the manual was introduced in the media as "the world's easiest-to-understand manual. We also repeated the prototyping process by listening to the voices of generations of users, and created about 70 prototypes before we reached our current form.
Manual for "Mago Channel" designed to be easy to understand for the elderly
New communication born from the use of "TV in the living room
Editorial:How many people use the "Mago Channel"?
Ishii:Users are located in 47 prefectures throughout Japan, and more than 10,000 units have been shipped to date. Shipment volume from January to March 2020 more than doubled from the previous year, and from April to June 2020 more than tripled from the previous year.
Editorial:After all, there has been an increase in demand due to the new Corona, hasn't there? What kind of feedback have you received from users?
Ishii:Many of them said that although they could not see their grandchildren very often with the new Corona, they did not feel lonely at all because they were able to watch their daily growth on the "Mago Channel. Also, since the "Mago Channel" allows them to watch videos and photos of their grandchildren on the TV in the living room, they say that this has become a common topic of conversation and has increased the number of conversations between the couple and improved their relationship.
Editorial:Yes, it's true that a couple can't look at a smartphone screen together.
Watching "Mago Channel" together creates conversation.
Ishii:Then there is the application for using "Mago Channel," which is free of charge and can be used by inviting multiple people to use it. For example, if there is a "Mago Channel" at the home of the grandparents living in Osaka, if there is an eldest son and his wife and a second son and his wife living in Tokyo and Fukuoka, they can send videos and photos from their respective homes, and they can also view them with each other on the application. In some cases, a total of 10 relatives are using the "Mago Channel" at the great-grandmother's house. And because each family shares what's going on with each other through the app, this has led to interaction between the grandchildren's generation (i.e., cousins). As adults, it is easy to become confused and not know what to talk about with relatives because it has been too long (......), but if they know each other's current status, they can naturally find something to talk about. The "Mago Channel" also seems to be an opportunity for such horizontal connections to be made. In addition, we have grown grandchildren and great-grandchildren using Mago Channel as a kind of "social networking service with grandparents," uploading videos and photos of their daily lives with simple messages of their own.
Editorial:That is wonderful! It will be so much fun to watch the videos and photos together when all the relatives get together for Obon and New Year's (lol).
Videos and photos sent to "Mago Channel" can be shared via a dedicated application.
Aiming for more advanced "monitoring service" and "communication tool
Editorial:Finally, let me ask you about the future development of "Mago Channel.
Ishii:From the beginning, a USB port was provided on the "Mago Channel" to allow for expandability, and a service called "Mago Channel with SECOM," which uses this port, was launched in January 2020 together with SECOM, a major security company. By attaching small environmental sensors to the "Mago Channel," this service detects "temperature, humidity, light intensity, and household noises," etc., and notifies the parents when they wake up or go to bed, or when there is an increased risk of heat stroke, etc. Although we are interested in "monitoring," some people say they are "too old" for the conventional service provided by SECOM, in which security guards rush to their homes, or that they are "reluctant" to install surveillance cameras, so SECOM was looking for a more lightweight way to monitor their homes. We had heard from users that "Mago Channel" was being used for safety confirmation, so we were looking for a way to expand on that. We were looking for a way to further develop the program, and we made a connection through a program sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which led to SECOM approaching us and making the program a reality.
Editorial:Indeed, if this service can tell me that "it's hard to get up today" or "I should watch out for heat stroke," I'll call my parents' house for a bit.
Mr. Ishii talking about "Mago Channel
Ishii:Currently, photos can only be sent one-way from the application side, but we are also considering attaching a camera to the "Mago Channel" unit to enable two-way communication. As for overseas development, we already have many examples of families posted overseas using the Mago Channel at their parents' homes in Japan, and we have sold the main unit in Thailand. We have also received the iF Design Award from Germany, a world-class design award. In July, we started a demonstration experiment with Izumiotsu City in Osaka Prefecture, and in September, we will start a project to provide subsidies to households that purchase "Mago Channel" in Shichigajuku Town, Miyagi Prefecture.
Editorial:Thank you very much. I believe there is a need for "Mago Channel" regardless of country, region, or race, and I look forward to its overseas expansion in the future!
After the interview
Due to the onslaught of the new coronas, most cross-province travel has been restricted, and it continues to be difficult to return home. Moreover, since this situation is expected to continue, the need for online information sharing is becoming more and more important. However, it is undeniable that smartphones are still difficult for elderly people to operate and the screens are too small to see. In such a situation, the idea of using a TV "remote control" and "large screen" may be the best weapon to facilitate communication with the elderly, I thought after actually experiencing the service. Why not consider this as a gift for the next Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day?
The "Mago Channel" website
https://www.mago-ch.com/
Mago Channel with SECOM" website
https://www.secom.co.jp/mimamori/mago-ch/
