Japan Market
Japan Market

Japan Market

Motorola: Fresh Opportunity in Japan

Motorola Inc.’s new phone for business users in Japan is just a start for the world’s second-largest mobile phone maker as it re-enters the demanding Japanese market, an executive said on Thursday. Michael Tatelman, Motorola vice president and general manager of mobile devices in North Asia, said it has the right combination of technology and design capability to meet Japanese users’ needs as they upgrade to a third-generation network based on a global standard.

Credit Saison Seeks Partners

Credit Saison Co., Japan’s second- largest publicly traded credit card operator, said it will expand ties with regional banks to outgrow bigger rivals Nippon Shinpan Co. and JCB Co. and win 30 percent of the domestic market by 2010. [..] Sumitomo Mitsui Card Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan’s No. lender, has allied with NTT DoCoMo Inc. to offer credit services for mobile phone subscribers. It had about 12.8 million cardholders as of March 31 2004.

Students Get Security Cell Phones

Tokyo’s Shinagawa-ku has taken an extra step to protect children in the ward by deciding to give them “crime prevention cell phones” that allow them to alert authorities if they are in danger and make emergency calls. Trials of the alert system the phones use will start at the beginning of next week. Plans have been made to supply the devices to all 12,000 elementary school students in the ward within this year.

Manga Doctor for 3G Phones

Manga Doctor for 3G PhonesAn unlicensed but brilliant surgeon — himself terribly scarred — prepares to take on another apparently hopeless case, this time right on the cell-phone screen. Black Jack, a series of immensely popular comics from Tetsuwan Atom’s (Astro Boy) creator Osamu Tezuka has decided to make the jump to wireless and is coming to KDDI 3G mobile phones. For 315 yen a month, readers can download Black Jack’s medical adventures twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Stories of this anti-hero have been serialized for 30 years in Japan, continuing long after the death of Tezuka. Black Jack has had his own live TV drama, video animation and animated TV series, and now he’s going mobile.

Mobile Phones Shake up Shareholder Meetings

Mobile Phones Shake up Shareholder Meetings

What is the sound of one hand tapping? If you are a shareholder in NTT DoCoMo it could be a pretty loud sound indeed reverberating right into the executive boardroom. Shareholders at NTT DoCoMo’s Tuesday, 21 June, shareholders meeting will be able to vote by cell phone through a secure site tapping in ‘yea’ and ‘nay’ at their convenience without trudging all the way down to the New Otani Hotel in Akasaka.

NTT is one of a growing number of Japanese corporations mainstreaming cell phones into shareholder operations. Panasonic, video game maker Taito Corp., [.pdf] and Sony [.pdf] are each allowing M-votes at shareholder meetings this year. Voters receive an access code and password in their voter’s invitation/agenda (generally sent out a couple of weeks in advance). For the Panasonic meeting on 29 June, m-voters connect quickly to the secure site by scanning a QR code (scroll down) which kick starts the password process. DoCoMo shareholders also streamline through with a QR code. Both secure mobile and Internet voting sites may be handled by banks such as UFJ for Sony’s meeting or Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking at Panasonic’s.

DoCoMo's Premini II S: Lightweight Phone Fun

DoCoMo's Premini II S: Lightweight Phone Fun

DoCoMo’s tiny Mova Premini mobile-phone series by Sony Ericsson is getting a color boost for summer. New Premini II S color combinations of orange/silver, white/lavender, and blue/green push the palm-size handset beyond its mini-macho borders into new territory.

For the Premini II S, the company created a playful Flash movie site called Premini TV. Click on ‘Color Shuffle’ and ‘Light On’ plus the colored dots positioned above them for light effects, then run the mouse over the musical Premini II S handsets covering the screen. It may not sell any phones but it’s fun and DoCoMo needs to keep that frontal lobe awareness with younger consumers.

Apple to Launch iTunes in Japan

Apple Computer Inc. plans to begin its iTunes Music Store online music downloading service in Japan in early August, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Monday. Apple’s service is expected to offer the largest collection among Japanese music downloading sites, with 500,000 to 1 million domestic and foreign songs. Mora, currently the biggest Japanese music downloading site, offers around 200,000 songs.

Tomy Looks to Mobile Phones for Driving New Toy Sales

Tomy Looks to Mobile Phones for Driving New Toy Sales

The wireless road warriors from Tomy have put cell phones in the drivers’ seat with these tiny remote control cars that can zip along in response to signals from infrared-equipped handsets. Licensed by Disney, Putica (petite car), comes in three classic Disney cartoon character designs from the 40s and 50s: Susie the hot rod, steam engine Casey Jr. and Pedro the plane. Overseas readers may not recognize these anthropomorphic mechanicals from the past, but these are by no means obscure for Japanese consumers. Regional marketing of secondary and even obscure characters from old Disney cartoons have become a huge spin-off industry here. Susie, the little blue hot rod, has her own line of character goods. These hot-rods are priced at a mere 1680 yen. To synch controls with most mobile phones, drivers can download a free software application from the online Tomy Putica website.