Softbank loses iPhone monopoly as unlocked iPhones 4 make appearance on Akihabara

Image: courtesy of Nikkei Trendy

Nikkei reports that SIM-free iPhone 4 models are popping up in Akihabara, Tokyo's havens for gadget geeks. Imported from countries where SIM-free iPhone is on sale the genuine iPhone 4 carries a premium price tag of JPY119,800 or about $1,400 for a 32GB model as the picture above shows. But this doesn’t stop the affluent users from buying it and bringing it to Nihon Tsushin (Japan Communications), an MVNO that borrows DoCoMo’s network to run its own service. Just days ago Nihon Tsushin put on sale a special Micro SIM card that makes iPhone 4 run on DoCoMo’s 800MHz or 2GHz FOMA network. Nihon Tsushin offers a JPY6,260 service plan that included unlimited data usage. What makes it very attractive is that this plan covers the ability to use iPhone 4 as a tethering device to connect your laptop to the Internet. All iPhone services like iTunes and App Store will also work without restrictions. ShareThis

What is Sharp`s mobile phone strategy in North America?

Sharp FX went on sale July 25 for $100 after mail-in rebate

Sharp's Long History in the U.S. Market
Sharp is an undisputed market leader in Japan`s mobile phone market and it is actively looking to overseas markets for so much needed growth. For a long time North America was one of Sharp`s main targets. The first phones in the US market with the relation to Sharp can be tracked down to 2001 when FCC approved the Sharp Z-800 (Audiovox 7900) handset, once Verizon`s flagship BREW model. The next success came with being selected by Danger/T-Mobile to manufacture the famous Sidekick device, which was also manufactured by Motorola and some Taiwanese OEMs in different periods of time. The interesting detail is that one of Danger's founder, Andy Rubin then moved from Danger to Google to create Android OS.

Smartphone Boom and Microsoft's Kneejerk Reaction
During the Sidekick era, Sharp has learnt a lot about the US market, starting with market intelligence, market economics, logistics, engineering know-how of QWERTY phone production and finishing with the insights into how to deal with local market players. However, the things have changed after Danger was bought out by Microsoft and the market has turned to smartphones as the next big thing. Microsoft struggling on its own to stay relevant in the smartphone OS wars was very busy to push the release of Windows Mobile 7 into the market and it seemed odd for the industry mogul to buy Danger. Nevertheless, Sharp was picked as a manufacturer of Danger-based Kin One and Kin Two devices with the proprietary OS headed to Verizon. The launch turned out to be a complete disaster with Verizon ditching the phones in a month after the release. Now it looks like Microsoft used Danger as a short-term solution to stay in the game while the company was taking time to finish Windows Mobile 7.

Sailing on Its Own: Strategy in Question
In the meantime, Sharp turned to AT&T with the Sharp FX. Being picked up by AT&T to ship phones for them is a great achievement on its own. However, the model that was awarded AT&T`s go-ahead is what made me wondering about Sharp`s strategy in the US market. First, the Sharp FX is a feature phone in the AT&T`s quick messaging phone category - a low-priced phone that spots a QWERTY keyboard but sacrifices a lot of functionality over the price. No wonder, Phonescoop wasn`t impressed with the FX when they did in-depth review. Based on the review, it looks like the FX is destined to go into oblivion pretty fast. But why feature phone in a first place? With a smartphone boom on a rise and shrinking interest in phones with mid-tier features it is odd for a small player like Sharp to start entering the market with a feature phone. I am not even talking about the squeezed margins for feature phones. You need to be a top-tier vendor with appropriate economy of scale to have the luxury of targeting phones in the range from low-end to high-end segments. With a smartphone probably being planned in the pipeline for the North American release Sharp is facing a risk of creating a brand image of a low-price mid-tier phone OEM - a curse LG had to fight initially in the US. Feature phones are a dead-end game for players without economy of scale. Low-end Android smartphones are going to replace the feature phones in near future but it is not going to help Sharp. Sharp and other small players need to create their niche in a premium segment, focusing on gaining margins instead of gaining market share. Time will tell if Sharp is going to find its way in the US market but at the moment the company`s strategy sends a mixed message. ShareThis

New word in your Japanese vocabulary: garake or galapagos keitai

TV program educating viewers on what and where the Galapagos Islands are

When Charles Darwin stepped on the Galápagos Islands during the voyage of the Beagle in 1835 he found out that a vast number of species inhabiting the territory were unique to those islands. His observations and collections later contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Little did he know that centuries later Japanese were going to call their "Made in Japan" mobile phones garake (ガラケ), a new slang word that is a shorten version of "Galapogos keitai" expression. Nowadays, don't be surprised when someones mentions in conversation that he carries two devices: a garake and iPad, for instance. The sad truth is that Japanese realize that their endemic mobile phones don't stand a chance in the wilds of outside world where the evolution by natural selection has taken place. ShareThis

Forecast: eBook reader market to hit ¥49.5 bn in sales by 2015

Is there a second chance for eBook readers in japan? After the failure to launch in 2004 the market for stand alone e-readers was in dire state, registering just ¥90 million yen in sales in 2009. However, the situation is going to improve, according to market research company Seed Planning. Mainly thanks to the growing popularity of e-readers abroad, the consumers in Japan are worming up to the idea of owning one. Seed Planning forecasts that sales of e-readers will go up from 1.1 million in 2010 to 2.3 million units in 2015, ringing ¥49.5 billion yen in sales.







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69% of online buyers purchase from Rakuten

Rakuten feels very comfortable in its home turf as the recent study by Marsh Research finds that 68.9% of online buyers in Japan purchased items at Rakuten. That's almost double of what its nearest competitors Amazon (38.1%) or Yahoo! Shopping (34.3%) have. However, another finding by the research company might not be that great as it seems for Rakuten and likes. Marsh Research also found that 96.3% of Internet users in Japan purchased goods online in March 2010. It means that Japan online commerce market has matured and hit the saturation level, beyond which it is hard to grow your business at the same pace as before. That's might be the reason Rakuten was on a shopping spree in other markets buying or partnering with online commerce players. The geography includes China, Indonesia, USA, and Europe.

- Posted on the go
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