DoCoMo adds chic to Razr line-up by selling Dolce & Gabbana model

Japan is late to the Razr fest. Debuted in 2004, the Razr design is about to start feeling stale around the world. According to some analysts, phones based on the Razr design account for about 30% of Motorola's total handset volume. Razr fatigue, anyone? Apparently, not in Japan yet. The first phones based on Razr design – the M702iS and M702iG – were shipped in Japan in December last year. And DoCoMo just started accepting pre-orders for the M702iS based on Dolce & Gabbana design, asking 75,000 yen (around $642). Five Dolce & Gabbana stores in Tokyo (2), Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka will distribute the pre-ordered Dolce & Gabbana handsets starting March 15. In April, DoCoMo also plans to sell the limited amount of Dolce & Gabbana phones online.

Maria Sharapova vs. Paris Hilton: who represents better Motorola?

It was a surprise for me to find out that Paris Hilton, not Maria Sharapova, was asked to attend the kick-off party for DoCoMo's M7o2iS handset a.k.a. Motorola Razr this December. Sure, both have a contract with Motorola to promote its products, but the choice of Paris Hilton after all that scandalous coverage in mass media raises some questions. Don't you think it might cast a shadow on DoCoMo and Motorola's image? Is it only me or, indeed, after seeing Paris Hilton holding Motorola you stop wanting to own the Razr? And, common, we all know Paris Hilton is an avid Sidekick user. Anyway, I think Maria is much more popular in Japan. And if you're wondering what model she holds, it is M100.

Motorola Razr finally sellin in Japan

Announced back in July, the M702iS model is last among DoCoMo’s 7-series summer line-up to make it to the shelves of mobile shops in Japan. Obviously, Motorola struggled to deliver the phone on time due to the customization requirements from DoCoMo. The slight modification of the M702iS model, the M702iG is still undergoing tweaking to satisfy DoCoMo’s taste and it is not clear when it will be put on shelves. The M702iS phone is offered at as low as Yen 17,850 with a new contract and at as high as Yen 31,500 for existing subscribers who are on contract for less than ten months, but more than for one month. It is available in three colors: Hot pink、Neo black、and Cool silver.

With the introduction of Razr phones, Motorola will try to enter the consumer market, as its only single phone model sold by DoCoMo in Japan before was the business-oriented M1000. Besides that, Motorola ships the M2501 HSDPA PC card, also aimed at enterprise users.

Sanyo Katana: the refreshed look on thin form factor

Credit: pcsintel.com via Engadget Mobile

If the shots above are really of Sanyo's Katana 6600 handset, then Sanyo did a great job of...copying Motorola's Razr following the "thin" trend in handset manufacturing. While Katana does closely resemble the look of Motorola's Razr, it definitely a break-through for the Japanese maker in terms of design implementation and overall coolness. US carrier Sprint is surely to win some customers with Katana. The only thing to complain about Katana is its standard features, which, according to Engadget Mobile, include a "mere VGA camera and Bluetooth". Plus, Katana is lacking EV-DO support. The presence of a 2.2-inch QVGA display is to be appreciated though. Overall, Japanese makers who plan to expand abroad should closely watch Sanyo’s moves for the learning purposes.

When smart phones work in tandem with scales

Tanita, a world-known scales-maker, recently introduced the BC-502 Lieta model, a body composition scales with built-in Bluetooth connectivity. But the company did not just release the product, it came up with a business model that involved several partners:

• Kirin Well Foods – producer of diet products under the brand Lieta Café
• Meipull – developer of mobile application Palette-Navi for Lieta

Business Model
When a user buys the BC-502 Lieta scales, he can also download Meipull’s application onto his smart phone in order to retrieve personal data from the scales instantly. The BC-502 model is capable to beam such information as weight, body fat percentage, total body water percentage, bone mass and metabolic age, daily caloric intake, muscle mass recall, and visceral fat rating. On a smart phone’s side, this data is stored and can be seen in a graphical representation. Moreover, the smart phone user can opt to wirelessly upload the data onto the Lieta Café’s blog where the user can privately keep tracking of his weight with the corresponding daily diet menu from Lieta Café.

Pricing & Availability
The scales are offered at around $300 with the mobile application available for download from Lieta Café’s website. At the moment, only Motorola’s M1000 offered by DoCoMo is capable to work with Tanita’s scales.

Source: BCN Ranking (Japanese)

Japan market entry-strategy: Motorola and Nokia get into partnerships with local players

Motorola and Nokia are turning their heads toward Japan, seeking technical expertise and new channels for distribution. Motorola hopes to penetrate Japan’s market by co-developing a HSDPA prototype with NTT DoCoMo, while Nokia plans to expand its CDMA market share in North America, utilizing Sanyo’s good relations with US operators and know-how in building high-end CDMA handsets.

Motorola emerges as HSDPA handset maker
In preparation to launch HSDPA services in sometime between July and September of this year, DoCoMo partnered with two domestic vendors Fujitsu and NEC and one foreign vendor Motorola to add three HSDPA capable handsets to its lineup. Motorola said it would leverage the achievement of the joint development with NTT DoCoMo to actively undertake the Interoperability Test partnering with carriers and vendors from around the world. The HSDPA- to-be handset from Motorola is a clamshell-style mobile phone, which resembles the look of its icon product Razr.

Interestingly, Motorola was not mentioned in another announcement made by DoCoMo to jointly develop platform for WCDMA handsets. This time, DoCoMo picked Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Sharp and chip maker Renesas. The newly developed phone platform will combine a single-chip LSI for dual mode handsets supporting HSDPA/W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and core software such as operating systems. DoCoMo hopes to strengthen the adoption of WCDMA technology on a global basis, while Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Sharp can pursue a long-term goal of going abroad with the unified platform. The companies expect to have the platform developed around Q2/FY2007 (July-September). It looks like the first handsets developed by the companies will spot Symbian OS, as Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Sharp have Symbian expertise. However, taking into consideration DoCoMo’s strategy to keep its portfolio diversified (the company recently announced plans to release HTC Windows Mobile 5.0 smartphone), Linux or even Windows mobile phone makers are likely to join the camp later. Again, Motorola looks as a good candidate for this role, especially, considering its global footprint, the company could reinforce DoCoMo’s strategy of spreading WCDMA and i-mode abroad.

Motorola could also partner with a Japanese manufacturer to launch appealing phones that will help boost its presence in Japan, company’s chief executive said in a recent interview with Reuters. NEC, Panasonic and Sanyo were named as the manufacturers whom Motorola talked to. Now, with Sanyo joining forces with Nokia to develop CDMA handsets, Motorola is left with fewer options. But considering Motorola’s primary OS emphasis on Linux/ Java platform and Microsoft ‘s OS, these options are sweet. According to Strategy Analytics, NEC achieved second position in UMTS global handset shipments for the full 2005 year. Add to this NEC’s long-term commitment to develop Linux-based handsets for DoCoMo. In its turn, Panasonic decided to phase out its overseas 2.5G GSM mobile terminal operations and focus on the development of a global platform based on the Linux OS. If Motorola is going to create some kind of joint venture in Japan, it will be likely a vendor backing Linux OS.

Nokia tries to shoot two rabbits with one bullet
Nokia is a leading backer of Symbian OS for mobile handsets and its strategy to spread the technology across the globe. In Japan, Nokia is trying to grow by shipping Symbian handsets to DoCoMo, which encourages Nokia to do so. According to Nokia, “it’s not a broad portfolio strategy, but we’ll have some particular products that will support the Japanese market." Among Nokia's latest releases of handsets in Japan is the NM850iG (Nokia6630) model for DoCoMo's 3G service FOMA.

What bothers Nokia right now is its weak market position in the North America, especially in its CDMA segment. In quite a surprising move, Nokia announced a joint venture with Sanyo to make CDMA handsets for the global market. This is a win-win situation for Nokia as the joint venture will create opportunities to penetrate both the Japanese and North American markets. According to Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the combined operation is expected to control approximately 20% of the global CDMA market when it launches in the third quarter. “By signing the deal, Nokia's brand power as the world's biggest mobile-phone maker will be complemented by Sanyo's strength in the Japanese and the U.S. markets, company officials said. Also, the makers' strengths don't overlap because Nokia is strong in entry-level and mid-range CDMA handsets, while Sanyo is strong in high-end handsets, “ WSJ commented.

Wireless Week also questioned the consequences of this joint venture for Qualcomm:

“Besides the marriage for CDMA handsets, the joint venture raises the question about what role Qualcomm will play. Sanyo has been using Qualcomm's CDMA chips, while Nokia has used its own. Nokia and Qualcomm have been at odds over the years, with Nokia joining several other companies last fall in filing a complaint with the European Commission over alleged anti-competitive Qualcomm actions. “

However, it is possible that Nokia will abandon CDMA chipset business as Wireless Week provided a research note from Lehman Brothers:

“Lehman Brothers said in a research note that it expects Nokia to get out of the CDMA chipset business, leaving almost the entire market to Qualcomm. Nokia's CDMA chips have come from Texas Instruments. Lehman also said Nokia likely will have a slight minority share in the new company so it won't have to report the new company's profits and losses as part of Nokia's financials.”

These developments also should bring some value to Japan’s domestic handset makers as they can utilize the global marketing and distribution powers of Motorola and Nokia in order to re-enter and get a sizeable footprint in foreign markets as Japan’s market has no growth prospects any longer.

Prosolid vs. Razr V3: the thinnest phones compared

Here we have them, Panasonic Prosolid and Motorala Razr, the thinnest handsets in the world, released almost simultaneously (the Razr by Cingular in November 2004 and Prosolid by DoCoMo in December 2004), but so different in their fate. While the Razr rocked the world, becoming one of the best selling handset in many countries, the Prosolid went almost unnoticed, making few splashes. Why? Well, partially, I can admit that the Razr may have a cooler look, but the main reason of such different outcomes is in another area. It is simple - Panasonic lacks the marketing, sales and distribution muscle of Motorola. It is not the exclusive problem of Panasonic, but this is the issue all domestic handset makers in Japan should address. While possessing technical expertise and creativity, Japanese companies often fail to go internationally, because they don't have enough qualified personnel or experience in dealing with foreign operators.

Prosolid Specs:

• Form Factor: Clamshell
• Finish: Anodized Aluminum magnezium
• Internal Memory:
• Dimensions (h x w x d): 108 x 48 x 16.7 mm
• Size (cc):
• Weight: 98 g
• Internal Display: 2.2 inches, 132 x 176 pixel, up to 65,536 TFT Color
• External Display: 0.8 inches, 25 x 96 pixel

Razr V3 Specs:

• Form Factor: Clamshell
• Finish: Anodized Aluminum
• Internal Memory: 5MB
• Color: Silver
• Dimensions (h x w x d): 98 x 53 x 14 mm
• Size (cc): 65
• Weight: 97g
• Internal Display: 176 x 220 pixel, up to 260K TFT Color, with 9 Lines of Text
• External Display: 96 x 80 pixel, 4k CSN Color, 4 Lines of Text / Line of Icons

Foreign handset makers’ goal in Japan

Japan's leadership in launching 3G networks provides an opportunity for foreign handset makers to enter Japan's phone market, once being locked because of the proprietary 2G standard used by local mobile operators.

While Japanese carriers can cut costs by encouraging the import of handsets from abroad, the benefits for foreign manufacturers remain unclear.

Japanese market is saturated with a little opportunity for growth. The majority of handset sales is generated by replacement purchases of advanced handsets. Japanese consumers are tech savvy and spoilt by local vendors who offer attractive high-quality handsets.

Foreign manufacturers must present strong reasons to make Japanese users switch from local brands to international ones. So far, this attempt was not very successful. According to Financial Times (Jan.3, 2006), DoCoMo has managed to sell only about 20,000 out of 200,000 3G phones it procured from Motorola.

Perhaps, the main benefit foreign makers can get from their Japan quest is to learn from a joint development with domestic carriers. Working to meet the requirements set by Japanese carriers will provide manufacturers with the knowledge and skills they can use making handsets for other than Japan markets. Among the manufacturers who have expressed an interest in Japan's market are Nokia, Motorola, Korea's LG, Samsung and Pantech. The ones who should be worried are domestic handset makers who cannot match the economies of scale of large global manufacturers.