Japan Market
Japan Market

Japan Market

Mobile Music Best Practices from Japan and Korea

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.

Japan Allocates 2-GHz Spectrum for TD-CDMA

Last week, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that Japan’s 2010 – 2025 MHz spectrum would be allocated solely to IMT-2000 TDD technologies. This paves the way for broadband wireless networks using UMTS TDD, also known as TD-CDMA in Japan; the first commercially deployed IMT-2000 technology for unpaired spectrum. Optimized for high-speed data, UMTS TDD is already used by operators and manufacturers worldwide and has emerged as a leading standard for Broadband Wireless Access.

JR East, NTT DoCoMo, and NTT DATA to Jointly Promote Suica e-Money Service

East Japan Railway Company (JR East), NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (DoCoMo) and NTT DATA Corporation (NTT DATA) announced today that they have agreed to jointly promote JR East’s Suica® e-money service. Through this joint venture, JR East aims to expand the number of retail shops and companies accepting Suica e-money, which will make it more convenient and attract more users. For DoCoMo, the expansion of the Suica e-money service will encourage use of its “Osaifu-Keitai” mobile phones equipped with contactless IC cards.

Foreign Phones Don't Sell in Japan

When Vodafone Group released a line of 3G mobile phones simultaneously in several major cities around the world, Japan was less than enthralled. The marketing blitz in Japan was also the first test of selling foreign-made handsets like Motorola and Nokia in a country where homemade phones have nearly monopolized the market. By many reports, the foreign handset makers fell flat in Japan, the most advanced cellphone market in the world.

Vodafone Weighs Change in Japan

Wireless giant Vodafone added 4.1 million new users – that’s the population of New Zealand – in its strongest quarter for the past five years. Now it will focus its efforts on improving its Japanese business, according to Chief Executive Arun Sarin. Average revenue per customer have slipped in that country, as well as in the U.K. and Germany. Sarin’s not averse to the idea of selling underperforming operations in Japan, where Vodafone languishes behind NTT DoCoMo and KDDI: “We’re not married to any asset. If an asset loses its usefulness to us.. we’d be willing to look at (a disposal),” he was quoted as saying by AFX News.

Vodafone Key Performance Indicators

The Vodafone Group today announced its key performance indicators (KPI’s) for the 1 April to 30 June 2005 period. KPI’s relevant to Vodafone K.K., along with a summary of customer numbers*1, are as follows. The closing total customer base was 14,966,600. Vodafone K.K. had a net reduction of 74,100 for the quarter, but recorded positive net additions of 5,300 in June. 3G subscriptions increased by 382,200 to 1,299,400 in the quarter, increasing the 3G customer percentage from 6.1% to 8.7%. The percentage of prepaid customers was 11% at the end of June 2005, unchanged from at the end of March 2005.