Japan Market
Japan Market

Japan Market

Sharp Maintains Top Spot in 2007

Sharp sold the most mobile handsets in Japan during fiscal 2007, with 25% market share, to hold top spot for the 3rd consecutive year according to data released by MM Research Institute. The company boosted handset shipments by an impressive 23% YoY, for a total of 12.76 million units, setting a new record as their Aquos branded LCD models proved to be a popular choice with growing consumer demand to watch 1Seg digital tv broadcasts. Overall, the domestic handset sales increased 2.9% to a new record of 50.76 million units.

Tokyo Joins Mobile Phone Recycle Effort

The Communications and Information network Association of Japan (CIAJ) and the Telecom Carriers Association (TCA), which jointly operates the Mobile Recycling Network (MRN), have established a partnership with the Tokyo Metropolitan government to promote the recycling of cellular telephones. MRN has asked individual local governments for their cooperation in promoting the collection of cellular phones, but this is the first case where a prefectural government has established a council and asked for participation of the Mobile Recycling Network.

Mobile Music Sales in Japan up 91%

The Record Industry Association of Japan has just released the RIAJ Yearbook 2008, its annual roundup of sales figures, statistics and trends from the previous year. As expected, the CD sales continued to decrease for the ninth straight year. However, total recorded music sales are up for the third year running, thanks to strong growth from the digital sector – or more specifically from the mobile sector, which accounts for the bulk of digital music sales in Japan with full-track downloads rising 91% over the previous year.

MasterCard Sponsors 3GTV Japan

MasterCard’s sponsorship of Japan Fashion Week’s “3GTV Japan” has been the first to use the latest branded interactive mobile video service – MobiActions. Visitors of Japan’s MasterCard Fashion week, were prompted to videocall into the MasterCard branded MobiActions service and leave a videoblog (Vlog) of their experience of the MasterCard Fashion experience. This was then posted directly to the live JFW website, where other mobile videobloggers could view their comments.

KDDI Eyes Method for Advanced Mobile

KDDI Corp. intends to maintain the CDMA 2000 method, used for the current 3G mobile service offerings, for voice communications in future advanced mobile services, company officials have said according to JiJi press. For data transmission, however, KDDI plans to adopt the Long Term Evolution, or LTE, technology, an internationally supported method to be compatible with the wideband code division multiple access, or W-CDMA, mobile method now used by its rivals NTT DoCoMo and Softbank Mobile the officials said.

QR Code Marker for your Grave

Somehow we missed this news from Ishinokoe (or “voice of stone”) who announced that they will begin offering tombstones with a unique Design QR code. The package will allow visitors to access a dedicated mobile site, complete with life history and photos etc., of the deceased. They also note that for the sake of privacy only people with a key, family members, will be able to open the chamber door in order to scan the data.

Exclusive Luxury Toshiba Handset Introduced

The Cosmic Shiner, a FanFun 815T model with diamonds, targeted at the ‘well-to-do’ was unveiled this week in Tokyo. This limited edition model, with only 1,000 available, is to be offered for $4,000 via an interesting invitation only scheme. In addition to the custom design features by Kansai Yamamoto discriminating buyers will also be entitled to a new “Prestige Gold” membership service.

Sharp Handsets Hold Top Market Share

Sharp increased it’s position as the top supplier of mobile phones in Japan in 2007 for the second straight year, according to a Jiji article press quoting market research company IDC Japan. In the October-December period, Sharp held on the top spot for the seventh consecutive quarter. The company took a 25.1 pct share of domestic mobile phone shipments, up from 18.6 pct in the previous year, thanks to the popularity of its Aquos branded models. Total shipments, across all handset makers, was up year-on-year 4.4 pct to 51.52 million units.

Nokia Growth Partners Buys into Japan

Morpho, Inc., provider of image processing software solutions for mobile devices, has announced that it received an investment in the amount of 165 Million JPY (approx. $150 Million) from Nokia Growth Partners, the venture capital arm of Nokia. The investment from Nokia Growth Partners, its first ever in a Japanese company, follows Morpho’s recent announcement that it had received an investment from DoCoMo. With these latest rounds of funding Morpho plans to grow its overseas operations to meet the increasing demands of customers worldwide.

Toshiba Introduces RoboPhone

Softbank Mobile has announced this Toshiba made 815T PB handset with an uber-cool Robo Design which is sure to grab lots of mainstream, not too mention full-blown geek luvin, media buzz. This transfomer styled device features a 2.4 inch QVGA screen, 2MP camera, music player, IrDA, Felica e-wallet and microSD card slot along with Push-to-Talk and usual slate of services.