The 2005-2009 archive of latest news, views and posts.
May 30, 2005
Rugged Casio mobile phone out
I think you need to see this one just for the website. For the handset? Well, it's water-resistant and has got GPS (of course) and it's made for the au carrier network. But the way it's presented has got to be the ultimate in cool. Check it out.
* Thanks for the link. Everything there is true, and the article points out the weak market competitivity of Japanese brands when in a savage price cutting environment. But the article then goes on to say that that is why they are retreating in numbers from the continent. Note that these are industrial manufacturers retreating from Europe which has an entrenched OEM model where you can swap your SIMs and buy a new phone on a new carrier. In this case, the carrier-OEM-subscriber value chain can be costcutted out (outsourced) and Japanese manufacturers can't compete. Same with the China cost model. * However, the fact that Japan launched the W-CDMA success in the first place with both DoCoMo and KDDI protocols means they have always been ahead of, and driving, the world pack (at least post-2001). * The technological prowess of South Korean phones also misses the point: the Koreans sell in bulk to the low-tech market worldwide (SE Asia, Middle East, Europe) and tout 7 Megapixel cameras to their well-off geeks at home. Japan models have moved beyond technology and into design and branding. The fashion couture statement - as opposed to the standard cut price benefit - is what drives Japan, and the mobile world will shift to this very soon, in the next 2 years or so... mobile Japan is still very much in the frontlines, even though it is shifting from pure tech, and into content and technology branding design.
3 comments:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050530/tc_nm/japan_mobilephones_dc
* Thanks for the link. Everything there is true, and the article points out the weak market competitivity of Japanese brands when in a savage price cutting environment. But the article then goes on to say that that is why they are retreating in numbers from the continent. Note that these are industrial manufacturers retreating from Europe which has an entrenched OEM model where you can swap your SIMs and buy a new phone on a new carrier. In this case, the carrier-OEM-subscriber value chain can be costcutted out (outsourced) and Japanese manufacturers can't compete. Same with the China cost model.
* However, the fact that Japan launched the W-CDMA success in the first place with both DoCoMo and KDDI protocols means they have always been ahead of, and driving, the world pack (at least post-2001).
* The technological prowess of South Korean phones also misses the point: the Koreans sell in bulk to the low-tech market worldwide (SE Asia, Middle East, Europe) and tout 7 Megapixel cameras to their well-off geeks at home. Japan models have moved beyond technology and into design and branding. The fashion couture statement - as opposed to the standard cut price benefit - is what drives Japan, and the mobile world will shift to this very soon, in the next 2 years or so... mobile Japan is still very much in the frontlines, even though it is shifting from pure tech, and into content and technology branding design.
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