Survey: Japanese handset users’ wants and needs

I came across an interesting survey conducted by iSHARE. They asked users about their expectations toward iPhone and other next generation device features. The responses didn’t surprise and confirmed the industry trend – mobile phones to become as powerful and feature-rich as computers. First of all, survey respondents expect to have rich browsing experience and ability to download software applications without restriction from operators. When respondents were asked about whom they expect to deliver such features, three OEM leaders emerged. Sharp, Sony Ericsson and Panasonic, companies with strong consumer electronics brands, were named among first. It’s interesting that Nokia fared pretty well, bypassing several Japanese OEMs.

Source: iSHARE blogch.jp

Willcom announces Communication of Revolution & Evolution (CORE)

Willcom grabbed media’s attention with a series of announcements at the beginning of this week. One of them is the Communication of Revolution & Evolution (CORE), which is the next generation of its PHS network. Willcom plans to roll out CORE starting next spring in Tokyo and gradually extend it to Osaka by autumn same year. Overall, CORE’s deployment will require upgrade of 160,000 PHS base stations Willcom currently operates. In theory, CORE network should be capable of delivering over 100Mbps for both uplink and downlink (30MHz X 2 (MIMO)) to objects moving with the speed of over 300Km/h. However, the actual speeds at the time of CORE launch are yet to be announced.

Willcom also intends to take advantage of its numerous base stations by equipping them with cameras and some sensors that can feed data to passing cars via car navigation systems. The company is reported to be in a joint research project with car navigation companies to develop a special device compatible with Willcom’s CORE network.

Source: IT Media

Japan handset distribution channels: over 10,000 kiosks

Japanese wireless carriers control the significant part of the handset retail distribution channels – approximately 80% belong to carrier-owned stores. According to M-Report’s estimates, top three carriers, including NTT DoCoMo, KDDI au, and Softbank own over 8,000 retail kiosks. Consumer electronics stores and general retail account for additional 2,000 POSs, making the total number of specialized mobile phone stores over 10,000.

Source: M-Report

Will DoCoMo offer LG Prada instead of Apple iPhone?

Wall Street Journal reported that DoCoMo would bring LG Prada to Japan on May 23. The news raises a question of a fate of iPhone on DoCoMo’s network. It’s no secret that Prada is a direct competitor with the iPhone. Why would DoCoMo bring Prada if it was going to introduce iPhone? In a simple logic, you don’t want to cannibalize your iPhone sales by bringing a competing product. AT&T serves as a good example here. I have two theories to explain this move by DoCoMo. First of all, the negotiations between Apple and DoCoMo didn’t bring a fruit and DoCoMo decided to launch a competing product ahead of the iPhone’s launch on a rival’s network – Softbank’s, to be precise. Second, DoCoMo decided it takes too long for Apple to come up with 3G iPhone for Japanese market. There is still a possibility that iPhone will be shipped by DoCoMo as the Prada’s move can be seen by someone as pressure on Apple to become more flexible in its terms. We’ll see very soon.

Related iPhone articles:

• Apple’s iPhone to hit Japan market in 2008?
• iPhone balancing act: DoCoMo or SoftBank?
• Japanese users think iPhone is fat

Source: WSJ