The Rise and Fall of Japanese 'Smart' Mobile Phones · The keynote speech of the iPhone release,...

The Rise and Fall of Japanese 'Smart' Mobile Phones:

Why are Japanese mobile-phone manufacturers defeated by Apple, Samsung and others?

❖ OKADA, Tomoyuqui:

❖ Visiting Professor of Department of Media, School of Art and Design, Aalto University, Finland

❖ Professor of Faculty of Informatics, Kansai University, Japan

1.　Theoretical and Historical Background

❖ I had already discussed on development of mobile Internet and mobile multimedia in Japan:❖ from social constructionism❖ through connection between youth culture and mobile

communication.❖ -> (Okada 2005)


❖ The Aim:❖ -> to apply the Actor Network Theory (ANT) to comprehension of

development of Japanese mobile phone as an ancestor of smartphone.





❖ Significant factors: ❖ not only social subjects but also physical objects❖ for example political-economic events, material shortage, any

other incidents or etc.




❖ Significant factors: ❖ not only social subjects but also physical objects❖ for example political-economic events, material shortage, any

other incidents or etc. ❖ Also…….❖ to make some insights on the deadlock of Japanese mobile handsets

from this viewpoint.

2. The Rise of Japanese mobile internet and mobile multimedia

2. The Rise of Japanese mobile internet and mobile multimedia❖ In around 2000, mobile phone carriers began offering mobile

Internet services, such as NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode (1999). In 2000, Sharp, a manufacturer of mobile handsets, released the first camera cell phone in history.



The First mobile Internet accessible handset by Fujitsu (1999)



The First camera cell phone and previous ones by Sharp (2000)

2. The Rise of Japanese mobile internet and mobile multimedia❖ Those innovations connected to youth culture, and its background

stems from the media culture of high school girls in the late 1990s.❖ (Okada 2005)


1.1 1.2

8.3 8.5 8.7 9.3 11.1 12 12.1 12.5 13.2 14.8 17.9 19.3 20.2 21.7 22.4 24.4 25.3

30.9 87 89.5

0" 10" 20" 30" 40" 50" 60" 70" 80" 90" 100"

Denmark Belgium Spain

Germany Hongkong

UK Portugal

New Zealand USA

France Swiss

Australia Finland

Netherland Austria Canada Italy

Taiwan Singapore

China South Korea

Japan


1.1 1.2

8.3 8.5 8.7 9.3 11.1 12 12.1 12.5 13.2 14.8 17.9 19.3 20.2 21.7 22.4 24.4 25.3

30.9 87 89.5

0" 10" 20" 30" 40" 50" 60" 70" 80" 90" 100"

Denmark Belgium Spain

Germany Hongkong

UK Portugal

New Zealand USA

France Swiss

Australia Finland

Netherland Austria Canada Italy

Taiwan Singapore

China South Korea

Japan

❖ "World-leading mobile Internet”❖ The 2002 White Paper, Information and

Communications in Japan

2. The Rise of Japanese mobile internet and mobile multimedia❖ The success of the mobile Internet in Japan…..❖ -> the effect of contemporary youth culture❖ -> the formation of a value chain in the vertical integrated business

model❖ -> various factors related to subscribers and manufacturers.

❖ The first mobile email service was also founded in 1997 by Japanese top subscriber NTT docomo.

Pocket Board: the one of the first of mobile email adopter by NTT docomo (1998)


❖ Pocket Board came to be increasingly purchased and its mobile email function evolved into i-mode (Okada, 2016).




❖ The level of services available in Japan had already achieved the service contents and multimodal services represented by the ecosystem of current smartphones.



❖ The level of services available in Japan had already achieved the service contents and multimodal services represented by the ecosystem of current smartphones.

❖ Japanese mobile handsets had been already installed several important applications in early days.

❖ —— Java (2001) and Flash (2003)

❖ New services have been generally developed under the lead of telecommunications carriers.

❖ = The Japanese mobile phone business and the telecommunications industry are strongly connected.

3. Characteristics of Japanese Mobile Industry




❖ "the leadership of telecommunications carriers is strong, and the whole telecom industry is enclosed by the telecommunications carrier" (Marukawa, 2010).





❖ Telecommunications carriers basically control mobile phone devices, phone contracts, contracts for other communication services, and content.






❖ —>“vertical enclosure" structure






❖ —>“vertical enclosure" structure of mobile industries.❖ —>’Galápagosization’, ‘Galápagos Keitai’ = ‘Gala-Kei’

❖ Why, therefore, were Japanese manufacturers of mobile handsets defeated by smartphones from foreign manufacturers like Apple, Samusung and the others?

4. Début of iPhone and Deadlock of Japanese Keitai

❖ The keynote speech of the iPhone release, Steve Jobs pointed out the limitations of the hardware of handsets, particularly the mini plastic keyboards of conventional smartphones (Apple Inc., 2007).


❖ Most Japanese handsets were somewhat smarter and greatly more popular than ones made in other countries, and, for this reason, service providers in the Japanese market made their own brands of handset, which were discounted through incentives paid to the retailers.

❖ As consumers could change their handsets within a short period, the limitations of handset hardware did not become a major problem in Japan.


❖ FAQ summary written in Most popular bulletin board website "Ni-Channel" on release date of the first iPhone in Japan (2008).




❖ Q: Does iPhone have infrared communication function?❖ A: No.




❖ Q: Can I browse mobile websites?❖ A: No.





❖ Q: Can I browse websites including FLASH and Java?❖ A: No.





❖ Q: Can I browse websites including FLASH and Java?❖ A: No.

❖ Q: Can I copy and paste texts on the WEB or email?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Is it easy to convert the address book from old handset to new iPhone?❖ A: A store uploads old one to a server, then you have to download it to

your new handset by yourself.





❖ Q: Does its camera have autofocus and optical image stabilisation?❖ A: No.





❖ Q: Does its camera have autofocus and optical image stabilisation?❖ A: No.

❖ Q: Can I record video by its camera?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Can I change its batteies by myself?❖ A: No. Moreover, free warranty covers batteries for one year. When

those deteriorate after it has expired, the batteries should be changed "with a whole handset and a repair charge."





❖ Q: Does it include mobile TV tuner?❖ A: No.





❖ Q: Does it include mobile TV tuner?❖ A: No. ❖ Q: Can I tether it to a laptop?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Does it have functions of mobile ticket or mobile wallet?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Does it have functions of mobile ticket or mobile wallet?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Can it send and receive SMS?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Does it have functions of mobile ticket or mobile wallet?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Can it send and receive SMS?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Does it allow a micro SD card?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Does it have functions of mobile ticket or mobile wallet?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Can it send and receive SMS?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Does it allow a micro SD card?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Does it have an alert lamp or an illumination?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Can I list any words or phrases in its memory?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Can I list any words or phrases in its memory?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Can I exchange mobile email with my friends who use Docomo

or au as usual?❖ A: You can't as usual.



❖ Q: Can I list any words or phrases in its memory?❖ A: No.❖ Q: Can I exchange mobile email with my friends who use Docomo

or au as usual?❖ A: You can't as usual. ❖ Q: Can I listen music with a bluetooth headphone?❖ A: No.



❖ Q: Can I operate it with one hand?❖ A: You should basically do with both hands.



❖ Q: Can I operate it with one hand?❖ A: You should basically do with both hands.

❖ Q: Can I purchase ring tones or ring songs outdoors?❖ A: You can't do that in iTunes Store without connection to WiFi.

With connection to 3G, namely outdoors, you can't.



❖ Q: Oh, all of functions of iPhone are unnecessary! No thanks for assistants of mobile stores!

❖ A: So, you don't need a new handset. You had better to buy iPod Touch!



❖ Q: Oh, all of functions of iPhone are unnecessary! No thanks for assistants of mobile stores!

❖ A: So, you don't need new handset. You had better to buy iPod Touch!

❖ All of those above functions, which iPhone does not have. ❖ But most Japanese mobile handsets include them.

❖ However, the market share of Japanese handsets in other countries shrank first. ❖ This was because consumers could not change their handsets as frequently as

in Japan due to their cost.


Nokia 31%

Motorola 15%

Ericsson 10%

Siemens 6%

Panasonic 5%

Samsung 5%

Others 28%

NEC 28%

Panasonic 20%

Sharp 10%

Mitsubishi 9%

Sanyo 7%

Sony Ericsson 7%

Toshiba 6%

Fujitsu 5%

Others 8%

2001Market Share

World-wide

Japan

❖ Disadvantages of Japanese Manufacturers4. Début of iPhone and Deadlock of Japanese Keitai

❖ Disadvantages of Japanese Manufacturers4. Début of iPhone and Deadlock of Japanese Keitai

❖ 1. Japanese careers did not adopt GSM but PDC (Japanese original system) and CDMA as digital cellphone system.

❖ 2. The cost of handsets became higher because of 'career bland’.❖ I mentioned before: The software and custom parts for various devices

often differ between each telecommunications carrier, and they are developed according to the high functionality and differentiation of devices the carriers provide.

❖ 3. 3G (UTMS) format had not spread the countries except for Japan. ❖ 4. When 3G has spread to European and other countries, iPhone and

other new smartphones become popular.

❖ Diffusion of smartphone and social media in Japan4. Début of iPhone and Deadlock of Japanese Keitai

9.7

29.3

49.5

62.6 64.2

37.6 36.2

41.1 44.1

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

smartphone social media

❖ Diffusion of smartphone and social media in Japan4. Début of iPhone and Deadlock of Japanese Keitai

9.7

29.3

49.5

62.6 64.2

37.6 36.2

41.1 44.1

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

smartphone social media

‘LINE’ started.

❖ Smartphone is basically suitable to browse social media such as twitter or Facebook. Moreover, Instagram is especially specialised to App. for smartphones.

❖ As social media became popular in Japan, smartphone has diffused.


2014Market Share

Samsung 21%

Apple 10%

Microsoft 10%

Lenovo 5%

LG Electronics 4%

Huawei 4%

TCL Communication 3%

Xiaomi 3%

ZTE 3%

Sony 2%

Micromax 2%

Others 33%

World-wide

Apple 43%

Sharp 14%

Sony 10%

Kyocera 10%

Fujitsu 7%

Others 16%

Japan

5. Conclusion

❖ Innovations and developments of mobile media have been affected many factors.

❖ ……not only technology❖ > political-economy, industry, socio-culture❖ accidental matter.

5. Conclusion

❖ Je vous remercie de votre aimable attention. ❖ Merci!

The Rise and Fall of Japanese 'Smart' Mobile Phones · The keynote speech of the iPhone release,...

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