Mobile Phone Sales Slump in Japan

February 20, 2005 - source: BWCS

As if to provide an antidote to the back-slapping and self-congratulations at Cannes, the Kyodo News agency in Japan reported this morning that mobile phone sales in the country fell by 14.9% last year. The figure for overall mobile shipments, which does not include personal handy-phone system handsets, stood at 43.2 million units.

According to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association the fall-off reflects market saturation as well as consumers deciding to put off purchasing a new phone until more 3G handsets become available.

Earlier this month Japan's dominant mobile carrier, NTT DoCoMo, announced a bold plan to cut prices on its newest range of 3G handsets in a bid to drive growth rates higher. DoCoMo has made its new Fujitsu-made FOMA F700i handsets available to the public at Yen 10,000 less than the current crop of 900i series 3G phones. Later in the year, the operator plans to will launch more 700i series phones from Panasonic, NEC and Sharp.