Handset replacement cycle to get longer in Japan

Market researchers at MM Research Institute in Japan found out that almost half of domestic cell phone users intend keeping their current handset for a little over two years, which will lead to the longer replacement cycle and, therefore, will depress handset manufacturers' sales. On average, only one out of three users will buy a new handset within a year.

Source: MMRI

Blogs and social networks are popular among Japanese mobile phone users

Survey takers at Impress R&D discovered that over 28 percent of respondents in Japan access blogs only from mobile phones. At the same time, over 15 percent of users access social networks using cell phones as their mere tools. 

Source: Impress R&D

Forecast for multiple wireless subscriptions in Japan

While the proportion of Japan’s population using mobile phones has slowly reached around 80% and the prospects of further organic growth are bleak, the country’s industry players hope that the next growth will happen in the secondary mobile phone line ownership market. The trend of buying second or even third subscriptions is abundant in Europe where prepaid contracts are commonplace. Can Japan hope for the same rapid growth in multiple wireless contract ownerships? The answer is not likely since the prepaid contracts are banned here. However, some growth can be expected thanks to mainly enterprises buying phones for their employees. According to ROA Group’s forecast, almost 15 million mobile phones in 2008 can be attributed to a second-phone category. And this number should go way beyond 25 million by 2012. Japan’s unique case is that in most cases the users will actually get a new device, not just an additional SIM card to insert into their existing phone.

Source: ROA Group