* Not only has the battle already begun, but is coming to a theater near you very soon. From the article in Forbes earlier this month featuring Apple/Motorola's much touted iPod phone, and Disney or Nike's alleged upcoming phones, the world of phones is shifting to experience branding and content branding.
* Well if this is happening in the US, where handsets are more iffy tech-wise than their Japanese/Korean counterparts, Japan's cosy 3-carrier mobile carrier industry will be thrown open to 3 new players as early next year, namely Softbank, E-Access and Livedoor. It is the first time such carrier competition has been introduced for over ten years now.
* Many articles have appeared in even mainstream business journals such as the Toyo Keizai (or "East Asian Economy") where their latest edition is entitled "The slayer of NTT Docomo, that's me!" with a backdrop of a horde of samurais rushing to the end battle with the well-known 50%-plus market share Japanese carrier. Unfortunately much of this is wishful thinking, and KDDI's au carrier has only recently made a grab for Docomo users over the last few years, with a portfolio of flat-rate billing schemes, high throughput technical advances and uber-design-oriented handsets. But looking around and beyond that one example, Vodafone as Japan's 3rd carrier is barely clawing its way out of subscriber outflow, while the 4th carrier TUKA has just about conquered enough senior subscribers to stay on this side of relevance.
* So new entrants had better watch what they do, and head for a quick land grab followed by expensive cost-cutting alongside some revolutionary yet cool handset makes to make a dent in this market. To no-one's surprise, Japan's subscribers are very conservative and like innovation if it appeals to their taste of new, which doesn't equal functionality anymore. The future is design, content usability and branding. Anything less than that and you're headed for bankruptcy. Gold rush amateurs, stay away. Innovative service providers, gold is just beneath the surface.
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