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Vodafone Quitting Japan
dimension6 writes "Reuters is reporting that Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone operator, is quitting business in Japan. Vodafone has been having a difficult time since they entered the Japanese market, a result of many blunders such as introducing Nokia brick phones where flip-phones are the norm and being slow to adopt 3G technology widely used by its competitors. Vodafone claimed that being part of the most advanced mobile phone market helped boost their sales elsewhere, but few Japanese-market phones have made it to other countries. The Japanese Vodafone division is likely to be bought by Softbank, the largest ISP in Japan."
Vodaphone had some real chutzpah, to think they could beat the Japanese on their home turf, in a gadget-oriented market.
Only Apple has done that in recent memory, and they are hardly "normal".
http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_
Why is there a vs at all? Flip phones might prevent accidental dialling & scratches but they consume more volume than the equivalent "brick" phone and often have extra protusions. I don't see why you'd fail for promoting one over the other. I don't see that Vodafone would promote one over the other. Their range in other countries includes flip phones and brick phones so its up to the consumer to pick.
Isn't this a general trend? Western companies have a hard time starting up over in Asia. KFC/Nike/etc have just begun to crack the Chinese markets, so it's no surprise (to me) that other companies have had trouble in Japan.
There is an anedcotal story about how Nokia started selling their phones in China. Originally they just copied their western ad campaings, focusing on individuality, how you can customize your phone with differently colored cases, personalizing software etc, in effect "make this phone like no other according to your taste"
Sales didn't pick up, and they studied the problem, noting that the group mentality in Asia is quite different from the West, where everyone is individualist. So the new campaign went with the idea of "Get our phone - just like everybody else". And the results were much better...
The unfortunate thing about doing business is that companies have to pay attention to a group of people we will call "customers." These "customers" tend to have preferences. Their preferences are often irrational, yet the poor companies have to pay attention especially if they face "competition." The "customers" in Japan have a strong preference for clamshell phones. Vodaphone did not pay attention to their "customers" so they did not have enough.(That and the Japanese market is notoriously hard to break in to, but that is a different conversation.)
You don't bitch about the 3210 and I don't bitch about your feature-overladen talking camcorder that can even crash. Seriously, the 3210 is a great mobile: It has a reasonable size, it's pretty robust even compared to other monoblock mobiles and it doesn't come with unnecessary bells and whistles like WAP. I like the 3210. It's a gret device for those people who need their phone for exactly two things: Call someone and be called. For everything else there's notebooks.
Okay, I currently do use a 6210 (a 3210 with WAP and less navigable menus), but that's because I got it for zero cost and my 3210 took a hit to the screen too many.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
1) Not getting your screen all scratched up by your keys or change.
2) Not having your other pocket items randomly dialing numbers for you, or not having to punch in a knock code to allow you to dial.
3) A microphone that's somewhere in the vicinity of your mouth instead of pressed against your cheekbone.
3a) Smaller when folded, bigger when open.
4) If it's good enough for the Federation, it's good enough for me.
to better themselves. In terms of gadgets, Japan is a tough market with lots of competitors, but like fighting any tough opponent, it would have made them better.
2 006/gb20060302_547553.htm?campaign_id=topStories_s si_5
It looks like they kept trying to push themselves onto the Japanese instead of adapting themselves, what with not adopting 3G and using a brickphone profile for their phones. How dumb is that? Was it a result of purely top-down leadership without some bottom-up feedback? I don't know but it looks that way if they are pulling out of Sweden too. Many companies try to do that when entering a foreign market, but they are usually spanked early on for their mistakes. I believe McDonalds serves lamb in India and wherever they go conform their menu to the locality.
But the idea that an American company can't do well in Japan is false, look at Apple:
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar
Somehow I doubt that the submitter would see it that way, seeing how only America says "Candy" and as they also say "Cell phone" as opposed to "Mobile Phone" I'd guess that the submitter isn't American.
Removeable covers. They cost next to nothing; I replace the screen cover every 6 months or so (so, about once per 'phone).
Have you heard of keylock? It's not a "knock code", nor even a "lock code"; it's a combination of two keys, of which one is the key you'd press anyway to start finding a number.
Umm. Whut? They put some lovely DSPs in there so it doesn't matter. I speak very softly into the 'phone, but it still picks up everything I say. We're not living in the 1950s.
Since when is bigger better? And every clamshell I've ever seen is larger even when folded than my Nokia, so...
Quite.
I've had a mobile since '97, getting a new one every 12-18 months or so; Nokia monoblocks all the way. I seriously doubt you're going to convince me to switch. ;-) The format I intend to switch to is a chip implant, and that's quite a way off.
James F.
Sales didn't pick up, and they studied the problem, noting that the group mentality in Asia is quite different from the West, where everyone is individualist. So the new campaign went with the idea of "Get our phone - just like everybody else". And the results were much better...
This potrayal of herd-mind (or hive-mind?) Asians on Slashdot has got to be the next big Slashdot meme. While it is true that Asians have historically more community minded that the West, community minded != groupthink. Indeed, given that personalizable phones (ones with removable faceplates, places to attach photos etc) do quite well in India and Singapore, two markets I'm familiar with.
I'd really like to see one of these "get our phone - just like everybody else" ads.
Go somewhere random
Nokia and SE make both small-size phones and "large clumsy" phones (they call them smartphones btw). I own a Nokia 6680 and although heavier than other models it is hardly just a phone...
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
I live in Japan too. The subscription base in Japan is far from equal. As of end of Jan, Vodafone has 16.7%, AU including Tu-ka 27.8% and the rest 55.9%. Check this site.
http://www.wirelesswatch.jp/index.php
Vodafone is tryig to force the western business model in Japan and they have failied quite badly. The first batch of 3G phones that it introduced were taken from the Western world (Nokia 6650, SE V800, 2 models from Motorola, etc). That was the month they had the worst loss of customers (abt 60,000). Unfortuntely, the Japanese market user base is driven by handsets. If you do not have a good line up, they will be gone the next month. Japanese users are not afraid to change numbers (number portability will come later this year).
You are a typical Vodafone customers whose main use of mobile phone is voice. Japanese mobile martket have moved pass the voice stage where income from data and other broadband services are higher then voice. Vodafone Live! is not as good compared to i-mode and ezweb. They lost a lot of high ARPU customers to the other 2 mobile operators. It is hard for Vodafone to operate successfully in Japan with their global business model that they try to apply to all markets. Top management has changed 2 times last year. They are now having some limited recovery after re-intruducing Japanese specific handsets from Sharp and Toshiba. Expats like yourself are too small in numbers to sustain Vodafone in Japan.
Cred and disclaimer - I've lived in Tokyo for the last five years. Japanese phones are generally prettier, faster, and more stable than Euro/American phones. Those same phones are also extremely stupid, as opposed to smart, as in "smart phone." I am not a keitai expert and may be wrong but I believe that Vodafone Japan was the first to introduce a smart type phone with the Nokia 6210 (702NK). It is a brick and the screen is ugly, but it runs an OS that has a LOT of software available for it. This was quite a change from the proprietary, useless, custom OS' installed by everyone else. The Nokia 6210, despite its flaws, seemed to be a pretty big hit. In fact, about a year later, Willcom (which has some connection to Docomo, I think) introduced that Sharp PDA/smartphone running Windows Mobile(model number escapes me). And now, in the second half of 2006, Docomo Japan is finally going to bring out a smart phone running Windows Mobile. And as someone who likes to have the option of doing more than on thing with device, I am happy to see it and will likely buy one. Vodafone's move with the 6210 was likely desparate (they've had service issues) but I am glad they made the move and paved the way for alternate models to finally be made available in a very stagnant phone market.
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They couldn't make a business model work by unbundling the network from the hardware. Maybe because their brick HW was rejected by the market, and their non-3G network was rejected by the market. But their brand and marketing dollars are so strong, they could go "virtual", branding other companies' phones and roaming on other networks.
Maybe it's just too competitive in Japan. While Vodaphone is used to making $BILLIONS without hardly any effort at all.
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