Motorola Looking to Japan

Motorola, the world’s second-largest mobile-phone maker, could partner with a Japanese manufacturer to launch appealing phones that will help it boost its presence in Japan, its chief executive said Thursday. “We’re trying to figure out how to get into the market quicker with our brand and working potentially with someone else,” Chief Executive Ed Zander said, referring to Japan in an interview with Reuters in Tokyo. “(We’re) talking to the NECs, the Panasonics, the Sanyos, and looking at, ‘Is there technology collaboration to bring products to market?’” Zander said. “We’re exploring some of those things.”  

The few foreign phones that have been introduced have failed to attract Japanese users, as their designs did not appeal to Japanese tastes. The models also lacked some key features, such as standard technology that allows users to easily write text messages in Japanese, creating the impression that they were inferior to Japanese phones. “We want to do more (in Japan),” Zander said. “This could be a big market for us, and we’re not happy with what we’ve done so far in handsets.”

As noted on WWJ recently, several local OEM’s are looking for global partnerships and Moto would be a natural fit to increase domestic and international sales for both parties. This article’s comment that “models also lacked some key features, such as standard technology that allows users to easily write text messages in Japanese, creating the impression that they were inferior to Japanese phones” is a classic example of non-Japanese makers’ lack of attention to detail. A local partner would clearly be beneficial in many ways, and watching how this initiative plays out will be interesting.

Full article here.

– WWJ Editors