February update: Japan mobile operator market shares

TCA published its February mobile subscriber numbers for Japan's mobile phone operators. The main points are as follows:

• Japan's mobile population grew by 0.4% from last month reaching 115,686, 400 contracts
• Among all mobile contracts, 96.4% go to cellular phones, with the rest allocated to PHS phones (Willcom)
• Overall cellular operators added 488K subscriptions with DoCoMo being slightly ahead of the pack with 148K adds
• In terms of total subscriber bases, DoCoMo grabs 50% of the market followed by KDDI au (28.3%), Softbank (19.7%) and eMobile (2%)
• Data plan subscriptions account now for 83.1% of total cellular phone market with DoCoMo being above the average with 87.5% of its subscribers using data services
• 3G penetration stands at 96.6% for overall cellular market with Softbank having 97.5% of its subscribers shifted to 3G devices
• Japan cellular market is dominantly postpaid with only 1.2% being still on prepaid; DoCoMo is left with just 0.1% of prepaid accounts

Taiwan's Inventec blends in Japanese mobile phone market

It was reported that Taiwan's Inventec Appliances would ship the H31IA handset bound for eMobile in Japan. The H31A is a simple voice-centric clamshell with an obvious "Japanese" design footprint. The move by eMobile to sell Inventec's product is undoubtedly driven by the price factor. But another interesting thing is that Inventec did a good homework in tailoring the product to meet the tastes of Japanese users. Judging by the looks, it is hard to tell whether this phone is manufactured by a foreign maker or Japanese one. This should be a warning sign for the domestic mobile phone manufacturers as foreign players start beating them not only in competitive pricing but in blending in among them. It seems that the low range of the market is destined to be infiltrated with low-priced foreign brands untraceable of foreign design DNA.

Phone Specs
Model:	H31IA
Carrier:	eMobile
Maker:	Inventec Appliances
GSM bands:	900/1800/1900MHz
HSPA/WCDMA:	1.7/2.1GHz
Dimensions:	99 X 50 X 16.1 mm
Weight:	110g
Display:	2.4inch (240x320) TFT LCD
Camera:	2MP CMOS
Bluetooth:	2.1+EDR
Memory card slot:	microSDHC up to 16GB
USB:	micro USB

Source: Keitai Watch

Sharp NetWalker walks into stores

It was reported that Sharp's miniature version of netbook or, as some call it a smartbook, went on sale in selected shops in Japan. The price tag is 44,800 Japanese yen or roughly just a little bit shy of $450 US dollars. Users are required to buy a USB modem to connect it to the Internet while on the go. eMobile is happy to subsidize the device by 40,000 yen if you agree to sign up for a 2-year data contract. It's nice, but no thank you. Why should I pay for the third Internet connection? I have broadband at home and I pay for data plan on my smartphone. Now they are pitching this beauty to get more money from me. Obviously, somebody doesn't get the pains of their customers. I'd consider paying some premium additionally to my smartphone data plan if they allowed me to tether it to my laptop. That will make me a happy camper.

Sharp NetWalker Spec
Model:	Sharp NetWalker PC-Z1
Carrier:	eMobile
CPU:	Freescale i.MX515
Memory:	515MB
Display:	5inch WSVGA Touch TFT LCD
Display res:	1,024X600, 65K colors
Input:	68-key board, touch panel
Internal memory:	4GB (2GB user allocated)
WLAN:	802.11b/g
memory card slot:	microSD/SDHC
USB:	USB2.0
Battery life:	10hours
Dimensions:	161.4 x 108.7 x 24.8
Weight:	409g
OS / Platform:	Linux Ubuntu 9.04 (ARM ver., Sharp modified)
Browser:	Mozilla Firefox
Email:	Mozilla Thunderbird
Organizer:	Mozilla Sunbird
Office docs:	OpenOffice.org 3.0
Graphics:	OpenOffice.org 3.0 Drawing
Media player:	Totem
Text editor:	gedit
Viewer:	Document Viewer
Price tag:	JPY44,800

Source: Sharp

Japan finishes 2008 with 110 million mobile phone subscribers

The “low-baller” competition led by Softbank and eMobile is on in Japan and DoCoMo seems to be back in the game while KDDI and Willcom are out of steam. The December 2008 new adds data from TCA shows just that (see above). Overall, Japan carriers including PHS operator Willcom added 401 thousand new subscribers in December 2008 boosting the country’s total number of mobile phone users to over 110 million equal to 87% of population penetration.

As for the carrier market shares, DoCoMo is in comfortable first-class seat with over 49% of the market while the second and third contenders KDDI and Softbank are chugging behind with 27% and 18% market shares correspondently (see below).

Source: TCA

HTC aims for 5% of Japan mobile handset market

This week HTC held a press conference in Japan to share its vision and strategy of tackling Japan mobile handset market and also to mark the launch of HTC Touch Pro and HTC Touch Diamond devices along with Touch FLO 3D user interface. 

HTC's outlook for Japanese operations is positive with optimistic goal to grab 5% of domestic unit shipments in near future. HTC will need to ship about 2.6 million devices annually in order to achieve its 5% goal (annual handset shipments in Japan reached 52.3m in 2007, according to Gartner).

HTC's confidence is based on global success of HTC Touch smartphone, which sold in almost 3 million devices from its launch in 2007. The new and enhanced Touch-based models Touch Pro and Touch Diamond should drive more sales, according to HTC. Having launched HTC Diamond in May 2008, HTC reports global sales of 1 million devices with the forecast of 3 million shipments by the end of October 2008.

Along with new devices, HTC also refined its strategy in Japan, including the following moves:

• Target multiple carriers by shipping HTC Touch Diamond to DoCoMo, Softbank, and eMobile and HTC Pro to DoCoMo, KDDI au, and Softbank
• Provide a thorough localization for Japanese carriers enabling carrier-specific email, menus, text input, navigation apps in Japanese
• Bring HTC's latest handsets to Japan in timely fashion (in sync with global launch)...

Source: IT Media +D Mobile

eMobile starts voice service, releases eMonster terminal

eMobile finally enters the mobile voice market in Japan with two handsets from HTC and Toshiba scheduled for official launch in March 28. HTC’s device called EMONSTER S11HT is a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard and unlocked SIM card, which makes it possible to be used abroad with a local SIM card. Toshiba’s handset is a voice-centric clamshell with one-seg TV tuner inside.

EMONSTER Specs
Model:	S11HT EMONSTER
Carrier:	eMobile
Maker:	HTC
Price:	TBD
Form factor:	PDA-centric clamshell
Color variations:	grey metallic
Weight:	190g
Dimensions:	59 X 112 X 19mm
Main display:	2.8" QVGA TFT LCD (touchscreen)
Talk time:	up to 264 minutes
Standby time:	up to 350 hours
Platform / OS:	Windows Mobile 6 Pro Edition
Memory:	N/A
Memory card slot:	microSD (SD2.0) X 1
GPS / Location:	Yes (Mobile Google Maps, Navitime)
Bluetooth:	2.0 + EDR
Infrared:	N/A
USB:	miniUSB (2.0 Full Speed)
Wi-Fi:	802.11 b/g
Camera:	3MP (main with autofocus) + VGA (sub)
Video calling:	Yes
One-seg TV:	No
Music player:	Yes
Browser:	IE Mobile
Cellular radio:	HSDPA/WCDMA (1700MHz)
Mobile Wallet:	No
QR-code:	N/A
Other:	MS Office Document viewer, QWERTY keyboard

Toshiba H11T Specs
Model:	H11T
Carrier:	eMobile
Maker:	Toshiba
Price:	TBD
Form factor:	Clamshell
Color variations:	white, blue, black, pink
Weight:	160g
Dimensions:	50 X 104 X 17.9mm
Main display:	2.8" Wide QVGA LCD (240 X 400)
Talk time:	approx. 160 minutes
Standby time:	approx. 350 hours
Platform / OS:	N/A
Memory:	approx. 50MB
Memory card slot:	microSD (sold separately)
GPS / Location:	N/A
Bluetooth:	A2DP compatible
Infrared:	IrMC 1.1
USB:	N/A
Wi-Fi:	No
Camera:	3.2MP (autofocus/ anti-shake)
Video calling:	No
One-seg TV:	Yes (Toshiba REGZA TV technology)
Music player:	Yes (AAC/MP3/WMA)
Browser:	Full HTML NetFront browser
Email:	NetFront Messaging client
Mobile Wallet:	No
QR-code:	Yes
Other:	Access NetFront Mobile Client Suite (JV-Lite 2, etc.)

Source: eMobile press release (Japanese)

eMobile first to introduce 7.3Mbps DL speeds

eMobile announced that they would upgrade their HSDPA network’s download speeds from 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps starting December 12th. They are first in Japan to do so, however the upload speeds remain unchanged at 384Kbps. In order to enjoy the new speeds, eMobile’s customers will need to buy the USB-based PC card D02HW by Huawei. According to eMobile’s management, currently the company’s user base accounts for 160,000 subscribers. Besides providing mobile broadband access directly and through MVNOs, eMobile also eye IP-based voice services to compete directly with cell phone operators. Last month, eMobile announced a partnership with Silicon Valley-based VoIP startup JaJah to pre-install its client onto the EM・ONEα smartphone. With JaJah onboard, eMobile promises domestic and international calling rates not only cheaper than those offered by carriers but even by Skype.
Source: eMobile

A new contender lures customers with EM-ONE smartphone

A new contender in the Japanese mobile market E-Mobile reported getting aboard 30,000 subscribers as of end of April 2007. Considering that the service went commercial in March 31, it is not bad at all for a new operator in Japan's nearly saturated market. Apparently, the Sharp EM-ONE smartphone attracted new subscribers at a bigger scale than expected as almost half of 30,000 users bought this HSDPA-enabled MS Windows Mobile terminal.

eMobile bets on mobile broadband services: roadmap revealed

Along with the new brand logo, eMobile also revealed its service and product roadmap:

March 2007:

• Commercial rollout of data-only HSDPA services in the 1.7GHz band covering three metropolitan areas: Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
• Next rollout phase will include Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and other big cities.
• Devices: HSDPA data cards.
• Downlink: up to 3.6Mbps.
• Target: businesses and consumers
• Strategy is to lure customers by cost-competitive and easy-to-understand rate plans.

March 2008:

• Rollout of voice services in Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Fukuoka areas, Niigata prefecture, in Sapporo and its surroundings, and in Sendai, Hiroshima cities.
• Due to lack of own base stations, eMobile will get into roaming agreement with NTT DoCoMo to cover the rest of the country for voice service.
• Active build up of its own network with the 250bn yen (around $2bn) investments.
• Devices: from voice-centric clamshells to smartphones and data-oriented communicators, including those with QWERTY keyboard.

2009:

• Plans to offer HSDPA embedded modules for integration into consumer electronic devices.

March 2010:

• Anticipate 3 million subscribers.
• Start convergent voice and data services - seamless communications.

November 2010:

• Shift from DoCoMo's to own network.

2012:

• Goal is to reach 5 million subscribers.
• Upgrade to Super 3G (30~100Mbps).

eMobile presents new corporate logo

Another Japanese wireless contender - eMobile, intorduced its brand logo which will be used in marketing campaigns and placed on mobile terminals when the company starts operations in March 2007. Here is how eMobile explains the shape and color of its new brand logo:

The new brand logo adopts "red" as EMOBILE's corporate color, expressing "infinite possibility of the mobile market", "strong will of EMOBILE's challenge" and "EMOBILE's passion and energy".

The logo also adopts a design which both letters can be viewed as either E or M from different viewpoints. This design expresses EMOBILE's strong will to break through the traditional view and challenge with new perspectives.

Sharp, yet gentle and round design expresses our focus on innovation and continuous stimulation to people's sensitivity, however at the same time, expresses our commitment on users comfort.

As you remember Emobile is a daughter company of eAccess, an ADSL broadband provider who received a license to rollout mobile services.

Source: eMobile

Japan's wireless market week wrap-up

Japan's eMobile picks Ericsson for 3G network build-up
eMobile, a new entrant to the Japanese 3G market, has selected Ericsson as the prime supplier of its new WCDMA/HSDPA network.

DoCoMo rival calls for wireless giant's breakup
Sachio Senmoto, CEO of Japan's eMobile, said NTT DoCoMo should be broken up to make the country's wireless market more competitive.

Carlyle prepares for Willcom IPO
The Carlyle Group, which owns 60% of Willcom, Japan's largest operator of PHS (personal handyphone system) services, reportedly is planning an IPO for Willcom. Willcom added 64,900 subscribers in February for a total of 3.8 million -- an increase of 25 percent since March last year when it introduced the flat-rate voice plan.

Equity companies want to outbid Softbank to get Vodafone
Cerberus Partners and Providence Equity Partners Inc. reportedly are putting together a $15 billion offer to buy Vodafone K.K. Japanese Internet provider Softbank already is in talks with Vodafone Group about buying K.K.

Vodafone finally sells Japanese operations to Softbank for $15.4bn
Vodafone Group plc confirmed that it will sell its struggling Japanese operation to Japanese Internet conglomerate Softbank in a deal valued at about $15.4 billion.