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Top Stories
Hello Docomoto – Motorola gets the nod from DoCoMoCosmote takes gold with i-mode handset launch
Pics by the millions - 98.6% of i-mode owners happy snappers
DoCoMo born-again 3G i-mode achieves massive conversion rate
ODD SPOT: DoCoMo Thai partner pulls the press release
1. Hello Docomoto – Motorola gets the nod from DoCoMo
Starting with its 2002 "Moto" campaign logo, borrowed from Taiwanese cell-phone toting teens, Motorola has quietly built a global brand through a new genre of hip cellphones, and has now captured a foothold in the golden market of Japanese 3G with Docomo.
It’s an unusual but not unexpected combination. Unusual because although DoCoMo currently sells 3G handsets from five Japanese makers - NEC, Sharp, Fujitsu, Matsushita Electric and Mitsubishi Electric, these are all branded as NTT DoCoMo handsets, with only a very small reference to the manufacturer. In Japan the carrier has traditionally decided the model names, with codes for the different models preceded by the initial letter of the brand names, such as the P900i from Panasonic and the F200i from Fujitsu.
This would seem to be at odds with the successful Moto campaign and Motorola’s own core brand strategy, as confirmed in a recent interview translated from Chinese. According to Tom Okada a director of Motorola Japan, “with a well-known brand name worldwide, Motorola prefers to market dual-brand products on our own... We want to emphasize product differentiation in terms of form factors as well.”
However this deal is not unexpected because the announcement comes eight months after DoCoMo said it was investing about ¥37 billion yen (then worth $344 million) in developing Linux- and Symbian-based handsets with six companies, including Motorola, for advanced handset technologies compatible with WCDMA (3G).
Motorola was the only non-Japanese handset maker to be a part of the development project. These handsets are being designed for DoCoMo's FOMA services as well as its yet-to-be-launched HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) data technology.
For Motorola, success in the technologically competitive Japanese market is expected to raise its profile as a 3G handset maker and help boost its global sales.
DoCoMo's drive is to reduce handset costs
One of the driving forces for DoCoMo is to reduce the price of 3G handsets, in this case by introducing more competition. The deal is likely to give DoCoMo even stronger bargaining power in price talks with existing Japanese suppliers and enable it to slash its subsidy payments that are intended to keep handset prices affordable.
Another strategic goal behind the move is for DoCoMo to raise its share of roaming income, as confirmed by NTT DoCoMo executive vice president, Keiichi Enoki, who said the phone will target workers who travel abroad frequently.
Unlike current i-mode-capable phones, the handset will enable access to the Internet through mopera or any other available Internet connection service. Its browser will be able to display standard web pages in addition to i-mode or WAP pages.
The handset will also be compatible with public wireless LAN services offered by DoCoMo and other providers, enabling users in hotspots to use high-speed Internet access at fixed rates. This move comes just as DoCoMo has also announced a partnership to offer wireless LAN roaming around the world via iPass.
This connectivity is an area where Motorola claims to have a leading position. "Most of the 3G phones from local competitors only offer one type of network connectivity, whereas we are ahead of the game with dual-mode phones. We have achieved strong development capabilities in WLAN and data communications, which also helps us to keep our lead in the market," Motorola's Okada said.
The new handset will also be able to view e-mail attachments in Microsoft Office format and store PIM data. Bluetooth connectivity will also be available, bringing its total connection options up to an impressive four; 3G FOMA, GSM/GPRS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.
The official announcement did not disclose the supplier of the handset's OS. However, a source close to the project was quoted as saying that Symbian had actually been chosen as the OS supplier for the as-yet-unnamed device.
DoCoMo has declared that it aims to win about 25 million 3G users by 2006 compared with 5.2 at the end of July 2004 (see item 4 below).
For more information:
-read this article in InfoWorld
2. Cosmote takes gold with i-mode handset launch
In a UK Regulatory Announcement on 26 August Hellenic Telecomms owner of i-mode's Greek alliance partner Cosmote announced that Group operating revenues for the second quarter of 2004 increased by 20.7% to reach EUR 394.8 million. Revenues from sales of handsets & accessories, following the launch of i-mode service in early June and the introduction of new handsets, increased by 64.2% and airtime revenues saw a 17.2% increase.
Cosmote (Greece) reported that since the i-mode launch, carried out in record time, customer response to the service "provides highly encouraging indications about the positive-take up of i-mode in Greece".
In addition, since the launch of i-mode Cosmote has signed 25 GPRS roaming agreements in 19 countries.
Data revenues (which include SMS, MMS, and other "soft data" revenues from Value Added Services) represented 12.4% of domestic operations for the first half of 2004. Cosmote (Greece) contract customers at the end of the quarter reached 1,602,188 or 39.3% of total while prepaid customers reached 2,473,351 or 60.7% of total.
For more information:
- see this report in Digital Media News Europe
3. Pics by the millions - 98.6% of i-mode owners happy snappers
87.5% of 20,000+ i-mode users recently surveyed reported having phones with a built-in camera and nearly all (98.6%) reported making use of the camera function.
Of the total phone owners there were no major differences in these results along gender lines. However, looked at by age and gender, slightly fewer women in the over-50 group reported having camera phones. As examples of frequency of use, the majority (33.5%) reported using the camera 2-3 days per month, while 30.4% used it 1-2 days per week.
Among those taking pictures with their camera phones, 40.5% of males take pictures of friends and acquaintances, while 48.2% of women take photos of family and relatives.
Of those who take pictures with their camera phones, 72.1% of men mostly just look at them on the phone, while 57.8% use them as screensavers/wallpaper, and 53% send them to others. Among women, nearly 70% tended to either send them to friends, use them as screensavers/wallpaper, or look at them on their phones. In addition, men were more likely to send them to their own PC email, or use them as a visual memo or reminder.
These results dispel the popular scepticism that camera phones are a fad. They also offer keen insights into selective marketing opportunities differentiated for men and for women as camera phone consumers and as different types of data traffic generators.
For more information:
-see D2 Communications website.
4. DoCoMo born-again 3G i-mode achieves massive conversion rate
Japan's market added 1.14m 3G users in July, representing a whopping 59% year-on-year growth. Overall, there are now almost 21m 3G users in Japan, representing almost 25% of the market (20.6m of 83.2m subscribers) as compared to only 4% of the Asia-Pacific region's subscriber base (according to Frost & Sullivan 30 August 2004).
By carrier, July growth broke down as follows:
- NTT DoCoMo: 688,600 new 3G subscribers, to a total of 5.2m
- KDDI/Au: 431,200 new CDMA 1X subscribers, to 15.1m
- Vodafone: 19,400 new Global Standard 3G subscribers, to 218,900.
For DoCoMo those 688,600 new FOMA users represent a massive, 456% year-on-year increase in monthly net adds. The importance of this growth is underlined by the fact that these users spend 10,240 yen (US$93) a month on average, compared with 7,400 yen for users of more traditional services.
In other words, after stumbling in the race to 3G DoCoMo is now the 3G champion by far for attracting new subscribers. (As predicted by my 20th June post.)
KDDI/Au has slipped to No. 2 in monthly net adds, with the July numbers representing a large, 26-percent decrease YoY. The CDMA carrier also said it had 573,000 1X EV-DO users as of end-June (no data was made available for July).
Like DoCoMo, Vodafone has also increased its monthly net 3G adds, now running 87 percent higher than a year ago; but the overall number of Global Standard 3G users is still tiny, at 218,900. Newly appointed Vodafone Japan president Shiro Tsuda has his work cut out for him.
This table below shows year-on-year growth to end-June.
|
Leading 3G operators in Japan | |||
|
|
Until June ‘03 |
Until June ‘04 |
Y/Y |
|
NTT DoCoMo |
421,000 |
4.6m |
993% |
|
KDDI |
7,511,000 |
14.7m |
96% |
|
Vodafone Japan |
34,900 |
0.2m |
473% |
Source: TCA Japan.
For more information:
-see this Wireless Watch Japan report
ODD SPOT: DoCoMo Thai partner pulls the press release
On April 27, 2004, NTT DoCoMo announced that it had signed a joint venture and share subscription agreement with Loxley Public Company Limited to take a 40% subscription in "Mobile Innovation Company Limited".
Loxley Public Company apparently pulled back on releasing their own press release until 26 August 2004 when they breathlessly "announced today that it has signed a joint venture and share subscription agreement of 'Mobile Innovation Company Limited' with NTT DoCoMo, Inc., under which Loxley will concurrently invest 60%, while NTT DoCoMo will acquire a 40% equity stake."
MIC will function as an Application Service Provider to provide the Fleet Management Service for segments such as "Logistics Company, Transportation Company and Car Related Company in Thailand".
While the time warp is odd the actual company and its relationship to MappointAsia, a digital location information products and services company in which Mitsui and DoCoMo have invested is interesting.
It opens promise for a wide range of location-based service products to be offered throughout Asia by DoCoMo. MappointAsia says of itself "MPA is no ordinary digital mapping company. It has developed and created a proprietary map engine that enables the ultra-fast display of maps over the Internet or WAP without requiring any plug-ins."
For more information:
- see this previous news release from MappointAsia and a more recent press release from DoCoMo.
| - end of newsletter - |
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