Kyocera Corp. is planning to implement a capital investment program worth 100 billion yen [about USD$1 billion] in fiscal 2005, an increase of 60 percent from fiscal 2004, according to Kyocera President Makoto Kawamura. “We are pushing a plan to build a factory for liquid crystal-related products in Kagoshima Prefecture” and other parts-making facilities elsewhere, Kawamura said in an interview.
The latest subscriber numbers are in and DoCoMo added an impressive 1,196,400 new 3G accounts in the month of July compared to rival KDDI/au, which only gained 312,000 new customers for their CDMA 1X service in the same period. Overall, however, KDDI managed to sign up a total of 230,500 new customers (2G + 3G) to beat DoCoMo’s 229,800 net additions. Meanwhile, Vodafone gained 18,000 more customers than it lost in July, with the stats showing they added 130,100 new 3G customers.
The organizers of the Tokyo Game Show 2005 (September 16 – 18) have just announced a summary of details for this years event. As of August 4, 130 companies are committed to participation, with 1,429 booth units reserved. The number of exhibitors exceeds the 117 at the last year’s show and is the highest ever since the first Tokyo Game Show was held in 1996. We also noted they have booked 31 exhibitors from overseas, an increase over last year’s total of just 18, and that DoCoMo will participate again as a “Special Sponsor.”
NTT DoCoMo has teamed up with Urahara.org and TechFirm to launch a new Felica-enabled service called TownPocket in Harajuku. Customers with RFID chip handsets will have access to easy registration for coupon campaigns, contests and prizes at 153 participating stores in the youth-trendy downtown shopping district. The campaign is set to launch on 8 August and organizers are targeting a total of 300 participating locations in the area by the end of September. [Japanese Press Release]
Apple Computer Inc. launched its music-downloading service, iTunes Music Store, in Japan on Thursday with 1 million songs, most of which will be available for about 150 yen a pop, the maker of the hit iPod portable player said. Japanese music on Sony labels are not available on iTunes, said Sony Music Entertainment spokeswoman Kiyono Yoshinaga. “We are in talks with Apple, but we have not reached an agreement at this time,” she said, declining to give details.
While Japan’s music market is second only to the US, with $3.5 bn in CD sales, it ranks first in mobile music in terms of market size, service penetration and sophistication. Japanese record labels have managed a powerful comeback from their failure in the wild, MIDI ring tone-based 2G music market to massive success in the master-rights-based "Chaku-uta" 3G universe. They already own a 20-percent share of Japan’s $1-billion-plus mobile music market. How did they pull off this stunning achievement? The labels identified their core assets in the mobile universe: trust and convenience.
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest Viewpoint is based on "Mobile Music Best Practices from Japan and Korea," a 103-page report recently released by Vectis International. WWJ subscribers login to read the article and receive a special 10% discount coupon!!
Researched and written over a period of several months by Simon Bureau, Managing Director and Editor, and Benjamin Joffe, Japan Market Analyst — two of the saviest mobile industry watchers in Asia — Vectis’ "Mobile Music Best Practices" provides 103 pages of sharp and critical analysis covering mobile music downloading as it has developed in the world’s top two wireless markets. With reference to carriers, content providers, networks, terminals, pricing, marketing and end-user behavior, "Mobile Music" is a must-read for anyone involved in planning and commercializing on-the-go music services anywhere.
