Mobile phone sales drop 20% in Japan on less bountiful carrier subsidies
[Via mocoNews, image courtesy of Flickr]
[Via mocoNews, image courtesy of Flickr]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DiGiC @ Aug 5th 2008 8:09PM
This has been happening in the UK for a while, esp with the rise of 18month contracts, a comprimise needs to be found. I think all partys agree its annoying all round (apart from the ones with thier pockets lined)
greenlight @ Aug 5th 2008 8:41PM
In Sweden most operators have gone down a different path - subsidies have turned more transparent, as when you choose to get a phone with your plan, you get $10-30/month added to your bill for X months, kind of like a payment plan. This means that you can still get a phone with close to no up-front payment, but if you choose to buy an unlocked phone on your own, you're not screwed out of the money your operator has set aside for subsidies.
Jamar @ Aug 6th 2008 7:23AM
EDGE? When did Japan ever get that?
Adderz @ Aug 6th 2008 11:31AM
What is it with Japan and primary colours. Everything is just so "busy"
minimalism all the way.
90 @ Aug 6th 2008 8:00PM
Too short phone lifespans of half year or up to a year exhausted Japanese phone makers. They can't make any phone quick enough to release in such high rate anymore. It was crazy. even docomo 904i series,which was released Q3 2007,has already discontinued. some company like Mitsubishi,Sanyo,and even Sony Ericsson quitted from Japanese market(some of docomo-branded SE phones are now actually supplied by NEC). poor profit from phones led software also poor; typical Japanese "High-End" phones takes almost 1 second just to open up main menu. phones with WVGA LCD can't play any movie larger than VGA. carriers are responsible for most of these.KDDI salesperson once said in a interview like this: "We always ask phone suppliers to make one thing very bad on a phone so a new model look like even more attractive." arn't they crazy?
so I'm seeing this news as a good sign. maybe we can get something less weirder.
PS: that "EDGE" shown in photo actually stands for Willcom's PHS AIR-EDGE, once also called AirH" . it's slow just like EDGE(up to 204kbps on handsets),but not that EDGE.
Montusama @ Aug 6th 2008 10:47PM
Everyone above is right, the turn around on cell phones its too great for companies to keep up with, eventually (and now is the point) that it has to slow down, and not sure about many japanese people, but many of their cell phones already have tv and mobile web and for a lower price than the american counterparts are