Wednesday, July 29, 2009
When did qr-codes start in Japan? (in August 2002)
We are often asked: when did qr-codes for mobile phones start in Japan?
Here is the answer: the first mobile phone with qr-code reader was the J-SH09 produced by SHARP for Japan's J-Phone mobile operator (today's Softbank) and came on sale in August 2002 - seven years ago.
More details and about 50 case studies of qr-code applications in our QR-Code report (corporate subscription here)
Here is the answer: the first mobile phone with qr-code reader was the J-SH09 produced by SHARP for Japan's J-Phone mobile operator (today's Softbank) and came on sale in August 2002 - seven years ago.
More details and about 50 case studies of qr-code applications in our QR-Code report (corporate subscription here)
Labels: j-phone, QR, sharp, softbank, vodafone
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Potential Flu Pandemic Positive for Telcos
More about Japan's telecom sector: http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/jcomm/
More about DoCoMo: http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/docomo/
More about KDDI: http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/kddi/
More about Softbank: http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/softbank/
Labels: docomo, emobil, KDDI, ntt, softbank
Monday, February 09, 2009
Wild differences in operating margins for mobile, TV media groups and electricals
We analyze the effect of the crisis on operating margins in three different sectors:
(1) electronics,
(2) mobile communications,
(3) TV media groups.
In sector (1), Nintendo's margins are above 30% and increasing despite the crisis, while traditional electronics companies' margins are evaporating.
(2) for mobile operators DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank margins are 10%-20% and increasing despite the crisis! Could mobile phone usage be crisis resistant?
(3) TV media groups had healthy margins in the 10%-20% range back around 2001- however these margins have been slowly melting away, and TV group margins are heading to cross the zero line into the red zone by 2010-2011. Watch out for a TV media crisis. Read more below.
Consumer electronics sector operating margins:
Nintendo bucks the trend: while Japan's electronics firms' margins are dropping into the red, and have never been much higher than 5% during the last 10 years, Nintendo's operating margins are above 30% and rising despite the crisis.
(Find full data, fully labeled graphics and analysis in our report on Japan's electrical companies)
Mobile phone sector margins are 10% - 20% and rising despite the crisis.
Mobile phones seem to be resistant to the current crisis. DoCoMo's, KDDI's and Softbank's margins are healthy and improving despite the crisis.
(Find full data, fully labeled graphics and analysis in our JCOMM Report)
Margins of TV media groups have been melting away since their peak in 2001.
Back in 2001 Japan's TV media groups used to enjoy healthy margins of up to 20%. Over the last 8 years these healthy margins have molten away, and Japan's large TV media groups are likely to all simultaneously go into the red from 2010 onwards, unless dramatic action is taken. Media groups will need to grow profitable new business, e.g. mobile-TV, and other cross-media growth areas.
Could it be that recent anti-takeover measures have made the large TV media groups complacent?
(Find full data, fully labeled graphics and analysis in our J-MEDIA Report)
(1) electronics,
(2) mobile communications,
(3) TV media groups.
In sector (1), Nintendo's margins are above 30% and increasing despite the crisis, while traditional electronics companies' margins are evaporating.
(2) for mobile operators DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank margins are 10%-20% and increasing despite the crisis! Could mobile phone usage be crisis resistant?
(3) TV media groups had healthy margins in the 10%-20% range back around 2001- however these margins have been slowly melting away, and TV group margins are heading to cross the zero line into the red zone by 2010-2011. Watch out for a TV media crisis. Read more below.
Consumer electronics sector operating margins:
Nintendo bucks the trend: while Japan's electronics firms' margins are dropping into the red, and have never been much higher than 5% during the last 10 years, Nintendo's operating margins are above 30% and rising despite the crisis.
(Find full data, fully labeled graphics and analysis in our report on Japan's electrical companies)
Mobile phone sector margins are 10% - 20% and rising despite the crisis.
Mobile phones seem to be resistant to the current crisis. DoCoMo's, KDDI's and Softbank's margins are healthy and improving despite the crisis.
(Find full data, fully labeled graphics and analysis in our JCOMM Report)
Margins of TV media groups have been melting away since their peak in 2001.
Back in 2001 Japan's TV media groups used to enjoy healthy margins of up to 20%. Over the last 8 years these healthy margins have molten away, and Japan's large TV media groups are likely to all simultaneously go into the red from 2010 onwards, unless dramatic action is taken. Media groups will need to grow profitable new business, e.g. mobile-TV, and other cross-media growth areas.
Could it be that recent anti-takeover measures have made the large TV media groups complacent?
(Find full data, fully labeled graphics and analysis in our J-MEDIA Report)
Labels: business in japan, docomo, KDDI, media, nintendo, softbank, sony, TV
Friday, August 22, 2008
Last 2G phone shipped 8 months ago in Japan
Second generation (2G) phones silently bowed out of Japan's market 8 months ago: the last 2G phones in Japan were shipped in December 2007. KDDI/AU switched off their 2G radio network in March this year, and both DoCoMo and SoftBank announced that they will switch off their slow and expensive 2G networks in the very near future (about 2009). Almost all other countries in the world either depend on legacy 2G networks only, or keep legacy 2G going while building out third generation in parallel. (Today's 3G HSDPA phones transmit data up to 250 times faster than 2G phones did on a good day).
The last 2nd generation (2G) phones shipped in Japan in December 2007. Almost all other countries keep legacy 2G networks running - Japan just switches them off. More in our JCOMM report.
The last 2nd generation (2G) phones shipped in Japan in December 2007. Almost all other countries keep legacy 2G networks running - Japan just switches them off. More in our JCOMM report.
Labels: 2g, 3g, docomo, hsdpa, hspda, Japan, KDDI, mobile phone, softbank
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Will the iPhone trigger a turning point in Japan's mobile phone industry?
Tetsuzo Matsumoto (Senior Executive Vice-President and Board Member of SOFTBANK MOBILE Corporation),
Gerhard Fasol (CEO, Eurotechnology Japan KK)
and
Dennis Normile (Japan Correspondent of SCIENCE Magazine, and FCCJ)
discuss about the future of Japan's mobile phone market.
"Will the iPhone trigger a turning point in Japan's mobile phone industry?"
(Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Tokyo Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 12:00-14:00)
(Photo: Copyright Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, used with permission)
Gerhard Fasol (CEO, Eurotechnology Japan KK)
and
Dennis Normile (Japan Correspondent of SCIENCE Magazine, and FCCJ)
discuss about the future of Japan's mobile phone market.
"Will the iPhone trigger a turning point in Japan's mobile phone industry?"
(Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Tokyo Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 12:00-14:00)
(Photo: Copyright Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, used with permission)
Labels: 3g, apple, iphone, iphone 3G, Japan, softbank
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
How many iPhones were sold in July in Japan?
How many iPhones did SoftBank sell in Japan during July? Our estimate: between 75,000 - 125,000. Read on about how we arrived at this estimate.
Net growth of mobile subscription numbers in Japan (Japan's mobile market grows by about 5.5 million per year - for more analysis read our JCOMM-Report).
How did we arrive at the estimate of 75,000-125,000 iPhones sold in Japan during July?
When we analyze the Figure above, we can see that SoftBank's subscriber numbers increased by 158,900 during June 2008, and the monthly increase jumped to 215,400 during July 2008. We can also see that for no other month except for March 2006, March 2007, and March 2008 was there such a jump (in Japan March is the month of peak mobile phone sales, because new jobs traditionally start with the beginning of the financial year on April, 1). Since SoftBank did not introduce any other spectacular phones during July 2008, we can safely assume that most of the 56,500 net increase jump from June to July are iPhone sales to new subscribers, or new subscriptions for second phones, or number portability users moving over from DoCoMo or KDDI. However, this number would not count current SoftBank subscribers who are upgrading existing subscriptions from a previous older phone to an iPhone. Since we are not aware that SoftBank announces this number, we need to estimate it. If we assume that there were equal numbers of new subscriptions for iPhones as replacements, we would arrive at an estimate of 100,000 iPhones sold during July 2008 in Japan. If we estimate, that this second assumption has a +/- 50% error margin, then we arrive at an estimate of between 75,000-125,000 iPhones sold in Japan during July 2008.
Our estimate: about 640,000 - 1 Million iPhones may be sold in Japan during 2008:
If we assume that iPhone sales in Japan will continue at the current rate, then we can estimate that between 640,000 - 1 Million iPhones could be sold during the remaining part of 2008 in Japan, which would be about 1.2% - 2% of mobile phones sold during 2008.
Net growth of mobile subscription numbers in Japan (Japan's mobile market grows by about 5.5 million per year - for more analysis read our JCOMM-Report).
How did we arrive at the estimate of 75,000-125,000 iPhones sold in Japan during July?
When we analyze the Figure above, we can see that SoftBank's subscriber numbers increased by 158,900 during June 2008, and the monthly increase jumped to 215,400 during July 2008. We can also see that for no other month except for March 2006, March 2007, and March 2008 was there such a jump (in Japan March is the month of peak mobile phone sales, because new jobs traditionally start with the beginning of the financial year on April, 1). Since SoftBank did not introduce any other spectacular phones during July 2008, we can safely assume that most of the 56,500 net increase jump from June to July are iPhone sales to new subscribers, or new subscriptions for second phones, or number portability users moving over from DoCoMo or KDDI. However, this number would not count current SoftBank subscribers who are upgrading existing subscriptions from a previous older phone to an iPhone. Since we are not aware that SoftBank announces this number, we need to estimate it. If we assume that there were equal numbers of new subscriptions for iPhones as replacements, we would arrive at an estimate of 100,000 iPhones sold during July 2008 in Japan. If we estimate, that this second assumption has a +/- 50% error margin, then we arrive at an estimate of between 75,000-125,000 iPhones sold in Japan during July 2008.
Our estimate: about 640,000 - 1 Million iPhones may be sold in Japan during 2008:
If we assume that iPhone sales in Japan will continue at the current rate, then we can estimate that between 640,000 - 1 Million iPhones could be sold during the remaining part of 2008 in Japan, which would be about 1.2% - 2% of mobile phones sold during 2008.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Japan's Mobile Space Not Saturated
More in our J-COMM report: http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/jcomm/
Labels: docomo, KDDI, ntt, softbank
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Yahoo! Complication
Friday, January 25, 2008
Mobile Industry Resilient (CNBC TV interview)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
iPhone Dials into Japan (CNBC TV interview)
Labels: business in japan, i-phone, iphone, softbank
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Market caps of companies in mobile: global vs local
Google, Apple, Nokia, HTC, Vodafone and are winning the driver's seat of the global internet revolution. DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank essentially stay inside Japan for now - limiting their growth prospects and leaving global opportunities to others.
GOOGLE with Android and APPLE with iPhone are reaching for the driver's seat of the global mobile data revolution. Global companies including GOOGLE, Vodafone, Apple and NOKIA grow to US$ 100s Billion valuations, while local companies NTT, DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank remain essentially limited to Japan's market for now. Smartphone maker HTC increases impact - including in Japan.
GOOGLE with Android and APPLE with iPhone are reaching for the driver's seat of the global mobile data revolution. Global companies including GOOGLE, Vodafone, Apple and NOKIA grow to US$ 100s Billion valuations, while local companies NTT, DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank remain essentially limited to Japan's market for now. Smartphone maker HTC increases impact - including in Japan.
Labels: apple, docomo, google, htc, iphone, KDDI, nokia, ntt, softbank
SoftBank and KDDI win market share
SoftBank from 4th to 1st position within less than 12 months... SoftBank's turn-round of x-Vodafone-Japan, went faster than many expected. Within less than 12 months SoftBank went from last place to first place in customer sign-ups, overtaking even KDDI's super-popular AU. Willcom recently suffers from SoftBank's revival, as well as from eMobile's flat rate data services.
Labels: docomo, Japan, KDDI, keitai, mobile phone, ntt, softbank, yahoo keitai
First half FY2008 results: SoftBank and KDDI profits increase, DoCoMo's trends is downward
In the last few days NTT, NTT-DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank announced their first half financial results. SoftBank and KDDI are the winners both for market share and for profits, while DoCoMo's results and market shares are sinking, and pulling the NTT-Group down at this time. Extrapolation indicates that DoCoMo's net profits may fall into the red about one year from now, drastic action is taken soon.
The thin lines show linear interpolations of quarterly net profit data. Our extrapolation seems to indicate that DoCoMo's net profit might fall into the red towards then end of calender year 2008 unless drastic action is taken. If current trends continue, SoftBank's net profits might exceed DoCoMo's mid-2008. We expect DoCoMo to take dramatic action before this happens.
The thin lines show linear interpolations of quarterly net profit data. Our extrapolation seems to indicate that DoCoMo's net profit might fall into the red towards then end of calender year 2008 unless drastic action is taken. If current trends continue, SoftBank's net profits might exceed DoCoMo's mid-2008. We expect DoCoMo to take dramatic action before this happens.
Labels: docomo, Japan, KDDI, mobile phone, ntt, number portability, softbank, yahoo keitai
Friday, March 16, 2007
"Help - my mobile phone does not work!" - Why Japan's mobile phone sector is so different from Europe's
Presentation at the Lunch meeting of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) on March 16, 2007 at the Westin Hotel, Tokyo.
Find the summary and photos of the meeting here
Download the presentation here
From the Announcement:
In his presentation, Dr. Fasol will explain the essentials of Japan's mobile phone market, why and how it is so different to Europe's. He will also talk about some of the reasons why it is so difficult for European companies to succeed and uncover opportunities and the keys to success for European companies in this important market.
Find the summary and photos of the meeting here
Download the presentation here
From the Announcement:
In his presentation, Dr. Fasol will explain the essentials of Japan's mobile phone market, why and how it is so different to Europe's. He will also talk about some of the reasons why it is so difficult for European companies to succeed and uncover opportunities and the keys to success for European companies in this important market.
Labels: docomo, handy, Japan, KDDI, keitai, mobile phone, nokia, softbank
Friday, January 05, 2007
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in Japan
Mobile number portability created winners and losers in only two months - the main business challenge for Japanese operators is to avoid a price war.
KDDI is the clear winner in the first round, DoCoMo suffers a setback, and SoftBank did better than expected.
Today we released the 23rd edition of our JCOMM-Report - about 250 pages of overview and analysis of Japan's telecom sector.
KDDI gains 524,000 subscribers in Oct & Nov 2006. DoCoMo for the first time ever since it was founded experienced a net loss of subscriptions.
KDDI gains 600,000 new EZweb subscribers, Japanese operators earn much from mobile internet - subscription data show even better results for KDDI's EZweb.
KDDI is the clear winner in the first round, DoCoMo suffers a setback, and SoftBank did better than expected.
Today we released the 23rd edition of our JCOMM-Report - about 250 pages of overview and analysis of Japan's telecom sector.
KDDI gains 524,000 subscribers in Oct & Nov 2006. DoCoMo for the first time ever since it was founded experienced a net loss of subscriptions.
KDDI gains 600,000 new EZweb subscribers, Japanese operators earn much from mobile internet - subscription data show even better results for KDDI's EZweb.
Labels: docomo, KDDI, mnp, mobile number portability, softbank, subscriber numbers
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
SoftBank's Gold Plan - Zero Yen?
SoftBank acquired Vodafone KK for about US$ 15 billion, essentially with a very large loan. Thus SoftBank is under enormous pressure to succeed in Japan's very competitive mobile phone market, where Number Portability was introduced on October 24, 2006.
Recent subscriber number statistics and our observations indicate that SoftBank looks likely to succeed in turning round the mobile phone company they acquired from Vodafone and renamed Softbank Mobile.
During the week of October 24, 2006, when number portability was introduced, Masayoshi Son introduced a firework of new pricing plans - on the surface these pricing plans all advertise "Zero Yen", ie nominally the price of buying mobile phones from SoftBank appears to be ZERO.
Of course, with a consortium of lenders anxious to be repaid, SoftBank has no possibility of giving away mobile phones for free. In actual fact, our analysis shows that SoftBank at the end of the day actually increased prices slightly. SoftBank introduced a series of pricing plans, where customers essentially purchase the mobile phone handsets under an installment plan running over variable periods, but typically 48 months, with zero down payment at the time of initial purchase. So in fact, the terminals are not sold for ZERO YEN at all - this issue led to an investigation by Japan's Fair Trade Commission.
As is usual practice in Japan, the Fair Trade Commission did not single out Softbank, but critized each one of the major mobile operators for different unfair advertising practices, and encouraged each mobile operator to be more accurate in advertising discount plans.
SoftBank got away lightly - the image below shows on the left hand side the initial ZERO YEN announcement, which a few days later was hidden by a more careful explanation... (the Zero Yen poster can still be seen shining through the paper above...)
Recent subscriber number statistics and our observations indicate that SoftBank looks likely to succeed in turning round the mobile phone company they acquired from Vodafone and renamed Softbank Mobile.
During the week of October 24, 2006, when number portability was introduced, Masayoshi Son introduced a firework of new pricing plans - on the surface these pricing plans all advertise "Zero Yen", ie nominally the price of buying mobile phones from SoftBank appears to be ZERO.
Of course, with a consortium of lenders anxious to be repaid, SoftBank has no possibility of giving away mobile phones for free. In actual fact, our analysis shows that SoftBank at the end of the day actually increased prices slightly. SoftBank introduced a series of pricing plans, where customers essentially purchase the mobile phone handsets under an installment plan running over variable periods, but typically 48 months, with zero down payment at the time of initial purchase. So in fact, the terminals are not sold for ZERO YEN at all - this issue led to an investigation by Japan's Fair Trade Commission.
As is usual practice in Japan, the Fair Trade Commission did not single out Softbank, but critized each one of the major mobile operators for different unfair advertising practices, and encouraged each mobile operator to be more accurate in advertising discount plans.
SoftBank got away lightly - the image below shows on the left hand side the initial ZERO YEN announcement, which a few days later was hidden by a more careful explanation... (the Zero Yen poster can still be seen shining through the paper above...)
Labels: mnp, mobile number portability, softbank
Monday, October 09, 2006
Yahoo!-keitai replaces Vodafone-Live!
SoftBank replaced Vodafone-Live! by Yahoo!-Keitai. SoftBank phones have a "Y!"-button which links to Yahoo!-keitai. Yahoo-Keitai! offers a list of official sites, new services (e.g. a new communicator service), and also access to free mobile internet sites through the YAHOO directory, as well as access to YAHOO services, such as YAHOO-auctions.
YAHOO!-keitai is a fresh start to revive the mobile internet service, previously known as Vodafone-Live!, and which had been losing market share to competitors i-Mode and EZweb for about 4 years. Previous to the Vodafone-Live! period, Jsky had been successful in gaining market share both from i-Mode and EZweb.
Read more in our "Softbank-Report"
YAHOO!-keitai is a fresh start to revive the mobile internet service, previously known as Vodafone-Live!, and which had been losing market share to competitors i-Mode and EZweb for about 4 years. Previous to the Vodafone-Live! period, Jsky had been successful in gaining market share both from i-Mode and EZweb.
Read more in our "Softbank-Report"
Labels: softbank, vodafone live, yahoo, yahoo keitai
Monday, May 22, 2006
SoftBank a small fry??
In my 20 years of business and work between US/Japan and EU/Japan, I am often surprised how Western executives underestimate economic size and strength of Japan and it's companies - here is another example:
BusinessWeek writes about the SoftBank/iPod phone, and writes that former Apple executives say that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs wouldn't normally tie up with a small fry like SoftBank...
Is SoftBank really a small fry? Let's check it out:
1. Apple vs SoftBank revenues
Revenues of SoftBank + SoftBank Mobile (x-Vodafone KK) were on the order of YEN 2500 Billion (US$ 22 Billion) for the year ended March 2006. Revenues of Apple Computer were US$ 13.9 Billion for the year ended Sept 24, 2005. - So in terms of revenue the new SoftBank Group (including the recently acquired x-Vodafone KK) is almost twice as large as Apple Computer.
2. Apple vs SoftBank market capitalization
Market capitalization of Apple Computer was US$ 54.9 Billion on May 19, 2006. Market capitalization of SoftBank (US$ 28 Billion) plus SoftBank Mobile Corp (US$ 15 Billion) was on the order of US$ 43 Billion.
More about Japan's telecom industry sector in our JCOMM-Report
More about Softbank in our Softbank report.
Tags: SoftBank|Apple|iPod|Japan|wireless
BusinessWeek writes about the SoftBank/iPod phone, and writes that former Apple executives say that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs wouldn't normally tie up with a small fry like SoftBank...
Is SoftBank really a small fry? Let's check it out:
1. Apple vs SoftBank revenues
Revenues of SoftBank + SoftBank Mobile (x-Vodafone KK) were on the order of YEN 2500 Billion (US$ 22 Billion) for the year ended March 2006. Revenues of Apple Computer were US$ 13.9 Billion for the year ended Sept 24, 2005. - So in terms of revenue the new SoftBank Group (including the recently acquired x-Vodafone KK) is almost twice as large as Apple Computer.
2. Apple vs SoftBank market capitalization
Market capitalization of Apple Computer was US$ 54.9 Billion on May 19, 2006. Market capitalization of SoftBank (US$ 28 Billion) plus SoftBank Mobile Corp (US$ 15 Billion) was on the order of US$ 43 Billion.
More about Japan's telecom industry sector in our JCOMM-Report
More about Softbank in our Softbank report.
Tags: SoftBank|Apple|iPod|Japan|wireless
Labels: apple, i-phone, iphone, softbank
Friday, July 23, 2004
Wireless Japan 2004 exhibition (Tokyo, July 21-23, 2004)
Every year the Wireless Japan sets global trends in wireless communications and mobile phones. Mobile phone industry professionals cannot afford to miss this trend setting show. It is here that Japanese carriers and handset makers introduce their latest products and show design studies and concept phones which set industry trends for the next months and years.
Highlights: "Beyond 3G"
Beyond 3G: SANYO 3.5G phone for 2.4Mbps data download (for KDDI/AU):
NEC "tag" wrapping multimedia design concept phone:
Matsushita/Panasonic "Beyond 3G" design concepts:
DoCoMo UbiButton and UbiChip:
DoCoMo i-Mode-FeliCa wallet phones - for electronic cash:
DoCoMo i-Mode-FeliCa wallet phones - as an electronic door key:
Highlights: "Beyond 3G"
Beyond 3G: SANYO 3.5G phone for 2.4Mbps data download (for KDDI/AU):
NEC "tag" wrapping multimedia design concept phone:
Matsushita/Panasonic "Beyond 3G" design concepts:
DoCoMo UbiButton and UbiChip:
DoCoMo i-Mode-FeliCa wallet phones - for electronic cash:
DoCoMo i-Mode-FeliCa wallet phones - as an electronic door key:
Labels: 3g, au, concept phones, docomo, foma, KDDI, softbank, vodafone, wireless japan 2004
