Nikkei: BlackBerry to stop selling phones in Japan, no longer able to justify the cost (updated)
By Donald Melanson posted Feb 7th, 2013 at 2:15 PM75 


It looks like Japan won't be a part of BlackBerry's BB10 launch plans now or anytime in the foreseeable future. According to a report from Nikkei, BlackBerry has decided to stop selling phones in the country, at least in part because it wasn't able to justify the cost of making the necessary language modifications to its new operating system. As Nikkei also notes, however, BlackBerry has seen a particularly steep drop in market share in Japan, where it now stands at just 0.3 percent. We've reached out to BlackBerry about the news and are awaiting comment.

Update: We've received a statement from BlackBerry confirming that it has no plans to launch to launch BB10 devices in Japan at this time, although it adds that it will continue to support its customers in the country. The complete statement is as follows:

We are in the process of launching BlackBerry 10 globally in key markets and we are seeing positive demand for the BlackBerry Z10 in countries where it has already launched. Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time. However, we will continue to support BlackBerry customers in Japan.

IPhone continues to rock Japanese cellphone market
BY KAZUAKI NAGATA
STAFF WRITER

• OCT 12, 2012

Since arriving in Japan in 2008, Apple Inc.’s iPhone series has won the love of many Japanese cellphone users long accustomed to phones heavily customized for the domestic market.

The iPhone shock could have even more repercussions, as the September debut of the iPhone 5 appears to be changing the landscape of Japan’s telecommunications industry.

Softbank Corp. made a surprising move last week to acquire eAccess Ltd., the country’s fourth-largest carrier and operator of the Emobile brand, to reinforce its network infrastructure and gain a competitive edge over its rivals, especially KDDI Corp. The competition between Softbank and KDDI — the two iPhone providers in Japan — has been escalating.

Meanwhile, NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s biggest carrier, has been trying to differentiate itself from the others but is struggling to keep customers from defecting to the iPhone camp. DoCoMo insists it will stick with its non-iPhone strategy and provide its own original services.

“If you ask me whether the iPhone 5′s influence over this business merger (with eAccess) is big, yes,” Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son stressed at a hastily called news conference Oct. 1 where he announced the acquisition of eAccess.

Softbank, the third-largest carrier, has valued eAccess shares at ¥52,000, almost three times the premium, and will pay about ¥180 billion.

With the move, Softbank will acquire 4.2 million Emobile subscribers. When combining the subscribers of PHS operator Willcom, also part of the Softbank group, the number of Softbank subscribers will total 39 million and surpass KDDI’s roughly 36 million.

Getting a boost from iPhone sales, Softbank has posted record operating profits for seven consecutive years.

It posted ¥675 billion in operating profit for its latest business year, more than 10 times the fiscal 2005 figure.

[...]

While the competition between Softbank and KDDI has attracted public attention, DoCoMo has lately been left out of the spotlight, except for media headlines about its struggles.

Before it started selling iPhones, KDDI was the carrier lagging behind the others in the smartphone competition. But since it started selling iPhones last October, it has been No. 1 in terms of getting users of other carriers to defect.

The statistics indicate DoCoMo is losing customers to the others.

In terms of business results, the iPhone impact has not been large. DoCoMo has been turning a bigger profit than Softbank. But DoCoMo officials said if the situation continues, earnings will be affected.

Seeing thousands of people lining up for an iPhone, “we are really jealous as we don’t get to see such scenes even though we have provided a variety of devices lately,” said Michio Fujiwara, director of DoCoMo’s corporate strategy and planning department.

Still, it is unlikely the iPhone will join DoCoMo’s lineup anytime soon.

This is because the iPhone would interfere with DoCoMo’s long-term business strategy, which focuses on strengthening more original Internet-based services within its network, one that can be used by any of DoCoMo’s smartphones. Apple’s strict control over the iPhone wouldn’t fit DoCoMo’s strategy.

Plus, some services overlap. For instance, while DoCoMo runs its own voice concierge service, Apple provides a voice assistant service called Siri.

Also, if it decided to sell iPhones, Apple would likely require that they account for more than half of DoCoMo’s total smartphones sold, according to former DoCoMo President Ryuji Yamada.

Thus, if DoCoMo decides to provide iPhones, “we might become just a network infrastructure provider,” which means the carrier wouldn’t be able to gain significant profits from its software content, DoCoMo strategist Fujiwara said.

DoCoMo has focused on providing smartphones that run on Google’s Android operating system, which can be customized freely by handset makers and carriers.

When thinking about gaining customers, iPhones may be an option, but “to realize our long-term vision, Android has more potential,” Fujiwara said.