Japan’s Big Three cellcos, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Vodafone, released their Oct-Dec 2004 quarterly financials in the past fortnight, and there’s a lot of information to be digested. If the endless listings of multi-billion-yen profits bore you, then it might be interesting to take a look at some of the new technologies, service models, and data tariffs that were announced along with the financial results.
In the mobile space, Asia is a huge, innovate-or-die marketplace, and MobaHo! — a joint venture of 88 Japanese and Korean companies — is gambling Big Money that Asians will want satellite TV and radio broadcasts beamed from the sky direct to their handheld receivers, cell phones and car-mounted tuners — and maybe even iPods in the future. Today, we go eye-to-eye with Mobile Broadcasting Corp. for a first-on-the-Web videocast featuring facts, analysis and great eye-candy of MobaHo’s latest digi satellite terminals.
Every so often, it’s a pleasure to break from our current wireless Internet and mobile telecoms coverage and take a look into the far distant future to see where mobile technology will take us in the coming decades. Esoteric technologies like super-miniature hard disk drives (HDDs) and 3-D holographic storage systems promise to radically remake the portable devices—phones, PDAs and iPods—that we tote with us every day. In the future, you’ll be able to stuff far more data into your cell phone than you can into your desktop PC today; and to my surprise this week, I found out that the far distant future isn’t so distant after all.
According to a 15 December report on IT Media (Japanese), KDDI’s Chaku-uta Full music download service has achieved over 360,000 downloads in the first 3 weeks — great results based on only about 200,000 supporting handsets. A keen WWJ reader has taken this data and extrapolated into the future to estimate that the 3G music service could be generating revenues of US $70 million annually after 2 years — and that’s assuming very conservative terminal penetration.
Sony’s new-wave handheld PSP game device breaks on Japanese shores 12 December, see the WWJ video here. Unfortunately, anyone beyond the Land of the Rising Sun will have to wait until March (maybe) to get their hands on one. Those with a wad of yen (dollars or Euros) to spend, though, can plunk it down right now on another Sony entertainment gizmo — one that sits on your lap instead of in your palm. Enhanced wireless connections have Sony’s newest version of their PC pooch Aibo sitting up and playing music, taking photos and dancing to a wireless beat.
Admittedly, ‘Robot as Pet’ is still a difficult concept to get around. Sure, some people prefer the touch of cold, hard metal on their skin rather than fluffy fur — but generally they don’t answer to the name ‘Pet Lover.’ (Though they may follow similar commands, “Sit! Beg!”) Even Sony seemed to realize their dog ‘bot needed more to justify its high price than just playing fetch and lurching slowly (very slowly) after its little plastic ball. The company has redesigned and repositioned the shiny ERS M2 version of Aibo as an enhanced audiovisual machine.
Wherein Dr. Brian Clark fields questions from the Japanese media at a presser [WWJ Video here] held 16 November 2004; the good CEO responds to queries related to expected 3G subscriber numbers (“We don’t issue forecasts for customer numbers ahead of time”), sourcing 3G terminals from Korea (Korean terminals are not appropriate), and what percentage of customers use prepaid — and how will a ban affect overall performance (“Current base is about 11 percent; prepaid is a fundamental customer benefit”), among others. For wireless watchers, today’s Portable Reportable — a direct look at the inner workings of Japan mobile — is not to be missed.
On 16 November, Dr. Brian Clark, acting president and CEO, Vodafone KK, presided at an Imperial Hotel presser announcing Vodafone Japan’s first-half results for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2005. Despite mobile operating revenue falling 2.5 percent year-on-year (to 736.8 bn yen), Clark put on a brave face and emphasized the new 3G terminal line-up, increased 3G coverage, growth in prepaid, and enhanced roaming. Nonetheless, several of his comments contrast sharply with what WWJ knows to be true about the Japan market.
Cellcos and handset manufacturers here are counting on the seemingly limitless Japanese craving to trade up to the trendiest and newest feature-packed cellies to push cash flow forward. Right behind the recent roll out of DoCoMo’s shiny, feature-packed 3G FOMA 901i-series comes a new line of four “Mova” (the carrier’s 2G brand) handsets targeting niche buyers. Lets take a look at these babies as each one has a distinctive feature targeting a specific, finicky, not-yet-ready-for-3G keitai shopper.
Niche marketing is undeniably cost-intensive — all those handsets require development, marketing and manpower to support. If 3G is where DoCoMo wants everyone to be, why continue to innovate within the older, 2G Mova line?
A Reuters report cites yesterday’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun (newspaper) as saying that Apple Computer plans to start a music download service in Japan by March 2005. The Nikkei said Apple aimed to offer more than 100,000 songs with an emphasis on Japanese music at its “iTunes Music Store,” which is expected to be the largest music download service in the country. But it’s unlikely to happen exactly as Apple might wish, and here’s why.
DoCoMo have just launched their next generation FOMA handsets at a splashy event at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel — complete with bikini-clad beauties, big-name stars, and a sound and light show that blasted their five new 901i handsets into the spotlight. The D901i, F901iC, N901iC, P901i, and SH901iC models all come equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, stereo speakers, and enhanced audio and video for even more multi-slacking fun. In a ‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!’ press event move, DoCoMo announced that only the SH901iC will be ready for nationwide release on 26 November. Other handsets will ‘follow’ with no specific release dates given. DoCoMo says sales of FOMA cellys stand at 7.3 million. Sales of i-mode-compatible FeliCa e-wallet handsets stand at 600,000 units; infrared signal-compatible handsets, 27.2 million, and bar-code reader terminals, 14 million. Watch our video report here.
