NTT DoCoMo considering Sony Ericsson Android Xperia X10

Things look bright for Android in Japan. Following the release of Japan's first Android smartphone - the HTC Magic earlier this year, NTT DoCoMo is considering to ship its second Android device. Most likely it will be the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor-equipped Android smartphone with a 4-inch touchscreen recently announced by vendor. During the new handset lineup introduction, the DoCoMo's CEO said the operator is evaluating the possibility of selling the X10 during next year's spring-summer season. Other Japan's major operators including KDDI au and Softbank are also said preparing Android devices for launch next year. At the last press conference Softbank shared some details about its future Android smartphone saying it would feature the Qualcomm's 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 3.7-inch OLED touchscreen and support Android's application store Marketplace. While the maker remains unknown, something tells me it might be Samsung.

iPhone 3GS tops the charts in Japan

The recent mobile phone sale figures from GfK show the rise of the iPhone 3GS 32Gb model to the top of the charts. Softbank's marketing campaign under the "iPhone for Everyone" slogan is clearly bearing the fruit. Just two weeks ago iPhone was ranked tenth...

TOP 10 (Sep. 7-13)
1(3) iPhone 3GS 32Gb	Softbank
2(2) Sharp SH-06A	NTT DoCoMo
3(1) Sharp SH001	KDDI au
4(6) Sharp SH-02A	NTT DoCoMo
5(4) SE W64S	KDDI au
6(12) iPhone 3GS 16Gb	Softbank
7(5) Panasonic 830P	Softbank
8(8) Sharp URBANO	KDDI au
9(7) Sharp SH-05A	NTT DoCoMo
10(10) iPhone 3G 8GB	Softbank

Previous Japan's top 10 mobile phone rankings:

• Top 10: Aug. 31-Sep. 6

Source: IT Media Mobile

Top 10: Best selling mobile phone in Japan

The first week of September witnessed a big jump of iPhone 3GS from the 10th to third ranking in top 10 selling mobile phone rankings in Japan. The big jump is attributed to solving the earlier inventory problems for iPhone 3GS. Nevertheless, the undisputed leader Sharp saw two of its models swapping the top and second positions, securing its hold on Japanese market.

TOP 10
1(2) Sharp SH001	KDDI au
2(1) Sharp SH-06A	NTT DoCoMo
3(10) iPhone 3GS	Softbank
4(6) SE W64S	KDDI au
5(5) Panasonic 810P	Softbank
6(13) Sharp SH-02A	NTT DoCoMo
7(3) Sharp SH-05A	NTT DoCoMo
8(18) Sharp URBANO	KDDI au
9(7) NEC N-08A	NTT DoCoMo
10(4) iPhone 3G 8GB	Softbank

Source: IT Media Mobile

Mobile phone sales drop by 29% in Japan in 2008

According to MM Research Institute, the cellphone shipments decreased by 29.3% YoY in Japan in 2008, totaling in 35.8 million units. Sharp was leading the pack for four years consecutively, shipping over 8 million handsets last year. International players failed to make a big impact in 2008, grouped in the Other category where Apple iPhone and HTC Diamond were notoriously visible. The 2009 outlook doesn't look bright as the handset shipments are expected to drop by another 7.5% hitting the low of 33.2 million units.

Source: MM Research Institute via Keitai Watch

iPhone sales go flat in Japan?

Market research company GfK has just released handset sales rankings for the first week of October in Japan. Surprisingly, Apple iPhone didn't make it to the country's top ten and even ended up third in Softbank's line up. Talking about the novelty effect evaporating...Overall, October is a slow month in Japan as the industry holds its breath for carriers' winter handset lineup announcements. But will Apple have something new to offer? I doubt that. To make it worse for Softbank, an iPhone's operator in Japan, none of its models was listed in top ten list. At the same time DoCoMo's models occupied the top list taking seven out of ten positions including the first top three. Unfortunately, GfK doesn't make public the handset sales numbers but at least you can see the top ten list below:

1. Panasonic P906i (NTT DoCoMo)
2. NEC N906iμ (NTT DoCoMo)
3. Sharp SH906i (NTT DoCoMo)
4. Sharp W62SH (KDDI au)
5. Toshiba W61T (KDDI au)
6. NEC N706iμ (NTT DoCoMo)
7. Panasonic 706iμ (NTT DoCoMo)
8. Fujitsu Raku-Raku Phone V (NTT DoCoMo)
9. Sony Ericsson W62S (KDDI au)
10. NEC N706iII (NTT DoCoMo)

Source: GfK via ITMedia

Survey: Japanese handset users’ wants and needs

I came across an interesting survey conducted by iSHARE. They asked users about their expectations toward iPhone and other next generation device features. The responses didn’t surprise and confirmed the industry trend – mobile phones to become as powerful and feature-rich as computers. First of all, survey respondents expect to have rich browsing experience and ability to download software applications without restriction from operators. When respondents were asked about whom they expect to deliver such features, three OEM leaders emerged. Sharp, Sony Ericsson and Panasonic, companies with strong consumer electronics brands, were named among first. It’s interesting that Nokia fared pretty well, bypassing several Japanese OEMs.

Source: iSHARE blogch.jp

Sony Ericsson intros Windows Mobile-based XPERIA brand

Interesting news is coming from Barcelona, where Sony Ericsson has introduced a new brand of Windows Mobile smartphones XPERIA at Mobile World Congress 2008. The first device the XPERIA X1 is packed with high-end features, including 3 inch Wide VGA touchscreen, 3.2MP camera, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth radios. XPERIA is the first original brand coming from handset maker. Before, Sony Ericsson utilized Sony’s legacy brands such as Walkman, Cyber Shot and Bravia. The new brand reflects the growing importance of mobile web and multimedia entertainment experiences on mobile devices as the iPhone showed the way they should be delivered to end-users. Sony Ericsson joins other handset OEMs in accelerating race to come up with iPhone killer. It seems that in this race, handset OEMs try to put any possible radio and feature into the phone while missing the importance of seamless experience, intuitive UI and physical design – the points where iPhone continues to have no match. Plus the multi-touch. I hope the XPERIA X1 will get closer as it can get to iPhone as we consumers will benefit from more product innovations from different vendors.

Phone Specs
Model:	XPERIA X1
Carrier:	N/A
Maker:	Sony Ericsson
Cellular radios:	GSM/ EDGE/ UMTS/ HSDPA/ HSUPA
Form factor:	Slider
Color variations:	Black
Weight:	145g
Dimensions:	110 X 53 X 16.7mm
Main display:	3" WVGA TFT touchscreen (65K colors)
Talk time:	N/A
Standby time:	N/A
Platform / OS:	Windows Mobile
Memory:	N/A
Memory card:	microSD slot
GPS / Location:	aGPS (maps & navigation)
Bluetooth:	Yes (A2DP)
Infrared:	N/A
USB:	miniUSB
Wi-Fi:	Yes
Camera:	3.2MP (auto focus, flash light)
Video calling:	N/A
One-seg TV:	No
Music player:	Media player (MP3/AAC)
Browser:	Full HTML
FM radio:	Yes
Mobile Wallet:	No
Barcode:	N/A
Other:	QWERTY keyboard, hardware 3D graphics

Branding: Maria Sharapova and Sony Ericsson

Some news with Friday's flavor... Sony Ericsson announced that tennis star Maria Sharapova will be the collaboration's first global brand ambassador. Sharapova also will work with the handset maker to launch new products and accessories. It's not clear whether Maria's contract with Motorola has ended but Sony Ericsson will surely benefit from this deal given Maria's positive image. Should we expect a pink Sony Ericsson phone model very soon?

Related article:
Maria Sharapova vs. Paris Hilton: who represents better Motorola?

KDDI au's top ten selling phone models

GfK, a market research company, published ranks of top selling mobile phones with each operator in Japan during the last week of November. This post will cover KDDI au. See table below for the top 10 sellers with au brand.

KDDI au Top Ten
1 (1)	Toshiba W53T
2 (2)	Casio Exilim W53CA
3 (3)	Sharp W52SH
4 (4)	Sanyo W52SA
5 (5)	Kyocera A5528K
6 (8)	Sony Ericsson W53S
7 (6)	Casio W52CA
8 (7)	Panasonic W52P
9 (9)	Toshiba W54T
10 (20)	Kyocera W53K

Source: GfK via ITMedia

PSP phone from Sony Ericsson coming

Sony Ericsson continues to exploit the great legacy of Sony Corporation brands to give them a second mobile life. After Walkman, Cybershot and Bravia phone models saw the light Sony Ericsson decided to re-invent Play Station Portable by giving it a cellular connectivity. As it turns out a recent filing with the patent office points to a new PSP-inspired mobile phone from Sony Ericsson. Although still in preliminary stages, the phone spots a gamer-friendly swivel screen, similar to the original PSP. The drawings show a bit clunky phone that is not very suitable for phone conversations but rather optimized for games. I believe the main use of cellular radio inside this machine will be for networked games and social networking. As a user I wouldn't consider the PSP phone as a substitution for my current phone but I'd rather see it as an additional device to play with occasionally. The key question is how many users will afford the luxury of having the second or third (after notebook with cellular modem) device with a cellular contract on their budget?
Via Unwiredview

After Walkman and Cybershot next comes Bravia – the SO903iTV handset

Marketing people at Sony Ericsson did it again – they assigned Sony’s well-known consumer electronics brand to a cell phone. As DoCoMo expands its handset line-up with ‘one-seg’ terrestrial digital TV broadcasting compatible devices, Sony Ericsson introduces the SO903iTV model that is being marketed under the Bravia brand – a name more known for Sony’s flat-screen TVs. To give Sony Ericsson a credit, the Bravia handset bears more than just a TV-associated brand name – the handset actually spots the newly developed mobile Bravia engine that enhances the picture quality of one-seg TV. The phone should start shipping in June 2007.

Source: DoCoMo
Related article: Walkman: old brand gets new life in mobile world

20-to-1: Japan's mobile vs. PC music downloads

Commenting on Apple-Softbank iTunes phone Business Week provides data that Japan's music downloads onto mobile handsets outstrip PC downloads at a 20-to-1 proportion. While there is a huge gap between mobile and PC music downloads, overall the mobile music downloads represent a small chunk of Japan's total music market:

Sales of digital music for cell phones accounted for around 5% of Japan's $4 billion music market last year, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan. "There's a lot more room for growth in digital music downloads for cell phones," says Ichiro Michikoshi of BCN, a tech market research firm in Japan.

Business Week also says that iPod held a 51.9% music player market share in Japan as of April 2006, followed by Sony (15.2%) and Panasonic (7.1%) who also produce music phones. The move into the handset turf by Apple will seriously deteriorate the handset makers' attempts to grab a market share from Apple, while at the same time will provide Apple with the bargaining power to get much-desired contracts with domestic top labels.

On a carrier's side, the Apple-Softbank phone could provide a boost to Softbank-Vodafone's mobile music service, which is far behind the rivals. For example, KDDI au started offering its full song download service in 2004:

As of mid-January, AU had sold 5.9 million music-playing phones to customers who have bought more than 300 million tunes over the carrier's wireless network. Its LISMO and DuoMusic services let subscribers mix their collection of songs downloaded to cell phones and PCs. One of its handsets, made by Toshiba, has a 4-GB hard disk drive that stores 2,000 songs.

Japanese handset makers markedly contribute to global smartphone shipments

The Asia-Pacific region claimed 46% of smart mobile device shipments worldwide in Q1 2006, according to Canalys. Overall, the global shipments of smart mobile devices increased 55% from 1Q 2005. Japanese handset makers played an important role in the increased shipments of smartphones, making Symbian OS global share in smart mobile devices to reach new high of 69%.

“In addition to the shipment increases made by Nokia and RIM, Japanese vendors such as Mitsubishi and Sharp have achieved very high volumes of their new Symbian-based FOMA smart phones in Q1, catapulting them into the global top five. With increased shipments from Fujitsu, and a new device from Sony Ericsson, Symbian is enjoying not only significant Japanese market success, but also seeing record global market share,” said Canalys senior analyst and research manager Rachel Lashford.

Walkman: old brand gets new life in mobile world

Sony Ericsson just announced its 1Q06 results, claiming it had sold 13.3 million handsets, among which 2.5 million were Walkman-branded phones. A year ago, the number of shipped phones was 9.4 million, but they did not have a Walkman-branded handset a year ago.

Obviously, the 42% increase of shipments can be attributed to the successful marketing of Walkman brand, which was almost forgotten, but luckily, it got a new life in the mobile world. Now, Sony Ericsson has a total of eight Walkman phone models announced or shipping.

The initial success of the Walkman phone made the company to develop a Cybershot imaging phone, which is going to hit markets in near future. What comes with the old brands is distinct differentiation for Sony Ericsson's handset portfolio -- a thing many handset vendors struggle to create. Can you tell me the dedicated music phone of Nokia without googling it first, for example? Motorola, which does not have the legacy of Sony brands, partnered with Apple to market iTunes phone, its dedicated music phone. When handsets offer the same pack of multimedia features it becomes extremely difficult for consumer to choose one. A handset's look (slim Razr) and well-known brand (Walkman) will play an important role in getting customers' attention along with the affordable pricing. So, what should we expect next from Sony Ericsson? Maybe, a Playstation phone?

Gartner: 45 million handsets shipped in Japan in 2005

According to Gartner, Japanese carriers sold 11.7 million handsets in 4Q 2005, while the year 2005 total handset shipments reached 45 million terminals. The demand for music playback feature by youngsters drove the handset replacement purchases.

Among the top Japanese handset makers mentioned by Gartner were Sony Ericsson (5th place), Panasonic (8), NEC (9) and Sanyo (10). Apart from Sony Ericsson, a joint venture between Sony and Swedish Ericsson, Japan’s domestic makers did not expand their market shares, failing to address the market needs or finding niche markets. The fragmentation of the domestic market also did not help improve the situation, because standalone Japanese makers lack the economies of scale to compete with the world leaders.

Source: Gartner press release (pdf, Japanese)