Emoji is a Japanese word literally meaning “picture character” or emoticon. In Japan mobile handsets have built-in support for Emoji characters and are capable of sending and receiving wireless messages containing them. [Check Wikipedia for more details.] iPhone too supports Emoji starting with firmware 2.2, but by default it is disabled on units sold outside of Japan.

There is a lot of information available on the Internet discussing different ways to enable Emoji on iPhone, but arguably the easiest is with a little help from “Spell Number – get emoji…” free iPhone app [App Store link]. This app in addition to its spelling bee smarts contains what’s known in software industry as Easter Egg and enables Emoji keyboard.

The steps below do not require jailbreaking and were verified to work on iPhone and iPod touch with firmware from 2.2.1 to 3.0.1.

Here is what to do:

• Install the application from the App Store;
• Start “Spell Number” and
• Enter the following: 91929394.56 91929394.59;
• Return to Home Screen by pressing Home Button;
• Go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> International Keyboards -> Japanese;
• Turn ON the slider for Emoji.

Now start any application accepting text input – Notes, SMS or iHagaki Postcards, tap on a text input control to bring keyboard on, then tap on World Icon until you see Emoji pictographs.

That’s it!

A word of warning: SMS containing Emoji are perfectly readable when sent to iPhone users, but people with other mobile handsets most probably will see some garbled text instead. The same is true for Mail app: Emoji characters in email messages are readable when viewed on iPhone, but other email clients, including Mac’s Mail.app, Mobile Me and Gmail, do not handle them correctly.