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for February 16-20, 2004 |
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3G MOBILE LAUNCHES J-STYLE/ NOKIA 3G IN JAPAN? / JAPAN BB / IMODE GLOBAL... |
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3G MOBILE LAUNCHES, J-STYLE
As the global wireless industry is wheeling and dealing toward hefty front-page corporate consolidation, Japanese network operators and device manufacturers have been steadily launching a stream of advanced telecom gadgets, 3G and otherwise, in the unified and synchronized manner that exemplifies the J. market and sets it apart from many others. DoCoMo's most recent 3G FOMA "900i" series of handsets came in a highly orchestrated, coordinated launch style with devices from 5 manufacturers (er, should be 6--where's the SONY ERICSSON!?), all incorporating special feature upgrades that collectively market the FOMA service as a whole - including 2 megapixel cameras, fingerprint sensors, external memory cards, motion video download, high speed, longer battery life and more. Net result: consumers know what FOMA is, and that it is something cool they want to check out. Even if you don't know Japanese, you should check them out too on the flashy Flash site devoted to these slick devices at 900i.
NOKIA 3G IN JAPAN?
Nokia also reported it is talking to DoCoMo to join the 3G line-up. If it happens, it will be the first DoCoMo Nokia since the classic sliding NM502i (launched in March 2000), now a mobile museum collectible. It will also be interesting to see Nokia march in lockstep to the same development drumbeat as the other Japanese handset manufacturers, dictated by DoCoMo, quite the opposite of Nokia's reputed relationship with operators elsewhere in the world (where it dominates, that is). We expect a Nokia 3G phone will be a distinctively "foreign" addition to the FOMA line-up.
JAPAN BB
Once again, Japan is steaming ahead with broadband. Japan's DSL subscribers exceeded 10.6 million in January, led in gains by upstart Yahoo! BB, which gained 122,000 to hold its market share at 36%. MMJ is watching broadband closely, as it is soon to become another key media pipeline in Japan's data infrastructure, and a delivery channel for more integrated content services.
IMODE GLOBAL...
This past week had two international stories with a Japan angle worth looking at. DoCoMo may be wondering where the Cingular buyout of ATTW leaves its international strategy, but it is a lot happier not to see its $10 billion cash investment being sold off at a 30% discount to rival Vodafone (which has previously styled itself the 'NTT DoCoMo of the global market'). Still, the potentially brighter outlook on the Cingular acquisition (DoCoMo may still collaborate on 3G development in the US) must still somehow clear away the haze that hung around its partnership with ATTW (which did not use the DoCoMo i-mode brand exactly...will DoCoMo/i-mode ever acquire a real international footprint, or just a paw print? ). Meanwhile, the KPN group announced its sale of 1 million i-mode handsets in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, two years after launch, with Vodafone gaining about twice as many users in half the time. MMJ has some good strategic advice for DoCoMo, but they will have to come and ask us for it...
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Archive
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Japanese mobile industry ponders Galapagos Effect |
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Summary (gilesrichter.com)
Japan has a super-powerful mobile ecosystem worth billions, brimming with futuristic technologies, business models, and experiences that the world wants to emulate. But is it a model or an anomaly? And does it only exist because it was incubated in isolat... |
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Surprise? 10 years in, ComScore Discovers m-Commerce in Japan |
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Summary (New Media Age)
That's right. After ten years of leading the world in mobile commerce, Japan has leapt ahead to take the lead again, and it has snagged the attention of the foreign media. This surprising non-news was broken by ComScore at the Mobile World Congress an... |
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Japan slices books into e-reader-sized bytes |
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Summary (News on Japan)
Would you pay $1 a copy to have all the books in your house cut up and scanned to PDF? That's what is happening in Japan, where cramped living conditions and the arrival of the iPad in May have spawned as many as 60 companies offering to turn paper bo... |
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