Japanese phone firms return to U.S. market
Associated Press
canada.com
Friday, January 10, 2003
AP / NEC's 515 cell phone
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Japanese cellphone makers, who had largely fled the U.S. market because it was cluttered with competing network technologies, are hoping to make a comeback with their feature-packed wireless phones.
Until recently, Kyocera, with about four per cent of the U.S. market last year, was the only Japanese maker of note, although Panasonic and Sanyo sell a few models for AT&T Wireless and Sprint PCS, respectively.
None of the Japanese companies, however, makes a dent in the market domination of the top three: Finland's Nokia, Illinois-based Motorola and South Korea's Samsung.
But in October, Hitachi launched a camera phone that for Sprint PCS's network. Hitachi and Sprint also plan to sell a personal digital assistant/phone in the spring that runs a Microsoft operating system.
NEC, another big vendor in Asia and Europe, hopes to tempt U.S. consumers this spring with its model 515 phone, a folding handset with colour screen. It is the first in a new line being readied for the U.S. market.
And Panasonic is bringing a high-end camera phone to the United States in the spring, having launched it in Europe in October.
The U.S. market has been complicated by the use of competing technical standards among the major wireless carriers.
In contrast, Europe, Japan and many other Asian markets have standardized on a single standard that has allowed them to add features without having to make multiple models to fit different networks.
Clawing their way back into the U.S. market won't be easy, but Japanese manufacturers have a few advantages. First, the companies have already proven their technologies can sell in Japan, the world's most advanced market.
Second, Japanese manufacturers have long been the world's leaders in cramming goodies into tiny packages. In this case, the phones are loaded with cameras, fine colour screens, Internet browsing and e-mail capabilities.
Third, the Japanese no longer have to manufacture separate phones just for the United States.
American carriers -- like many of their counterparts overseas -- have almost completely converged on two wireless standards, CDMA and GSM.
GSM, or global system for mobile communications, is the standard used throughout Europe, Japan and much of Asia. CDMA, or code division multiple access, is used primarily in the United States, Canada and China.
Now, with three major U.S. carriers -- Cingular, AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile -- offering GSM, it's easlier for Japanese to sell their phones here.
"Now that the U.S. consumer market is embracing new technologies, NEC is poised to bring our years of experience in the Japanese market to the U.S," said Noboru Sakata, general manager of NEC America's wireless division.
Hitachi also believes U.S. consumers and networks are finally ready for fancy Japanese phones.
Both of its U.S. models handle e-mail, Web browsing and can take and send pictures, like their Japanese counterparts. |
