Wednesday, December 10, 2008
NOKIA quits Japan - for now...
NOKIA's Japan subsidiary was founded on April 3, 1989 - almost 20 years ago. On November 27, 2008 NOKIA announced to terminate selling mobile phones to Japan's mobile operators, effectively withdrawing from Japan (except for purchasing, R&D and VERTU).
NOKIA's sales figures in Japan were a well kept secret until last week when several Japanese newspapers wrote that NOKIA sold 200,000 phones during FY 2007: thus NOKIA's market share was 0.39% - after 20 years of market entry efforts.
Considering the disastrous collapse of mobile phone handset sales in Japan, NOKIA's move to quit sales in Japan actually makes a lot of sense. Nothing prevents NOKIA from re-entering Japan again in the future.
NOKIA's sales figures in Japan were a well kept secret until last week when several Japanese newspapers wrote that NOKIA sold 200,000 phones during FY 2007: thus NOKIA's market share was 0.39% - after 20 years of market entry efforts.
Considering the disastrous collapse of mobile phone handset sales in Japan, NOKIA's move to quit sales in Japan actually makes a lot of sense. Nothing prevents NOKIA from re-entering Japan again in the future.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The Opaquenes of Japan's social network systems (SNS)
Opaqueness of Japan's SNS was a point of discussion at the Next Context Conference. When you use Japan's social network systems, instead of portrait photographs and real names in Western SNS, in Japan you'll find that most people use phantasy names and pictures of churches, cats, airplanes, clowns and cartoons instead of passport photographs. Japanese people prefer to keep there privacy intact in this and several other ways. For example mostly you cannot join Japan's SNS unless you are invited in by a friend, and you can't join unless you live in Japan (verified by your Japanese mobile email address).
Looks like Western SNS will have difficulties to thrive in Japan's SNS unless they make some adaptations of their Western functionality for Japan - or unless Japanese people change their preferences.
Looks like Western SNS will have difficulties to thrive in Japan's SNS unless they make some adaptations of their Western functionality for Japan - or unless Japanese people change their preferences.
Labels: gree, japan, mixi, sns, social network, social network system
Friday, September 5, 2008
Microsoft XBOX Japan market entry strategy
Microsoft introduced the original XBOX game console in the USA on November 15, 2001, in Japan on February 22, 2002, and in Europe on March 14, 2002.
During the period January-June 2005, three years after introduction of the XBOX to Japan's market, SONY sold about 2.4 Million game terminals in Japan, Nintendo sold about 1.9 Million, and Microsoft about 9000 XBOXes, about 0.2% marketshare.
As of August 24, 2008, Nintendo has sold about 6.7 Million Wii, SONY has sold about 2.3 PS3, and Microsoft about 380,000 XBOX-360 in Japan, a 4% share in this segment.
A few days ago, Microsoft announced a price cut of 30% for XBOX-360 in Japan - the video below gives our comments on this price reduction on CNBC.
Here is a short summary of the CNBC-TV interview:
Q: Do you think the price reduction is going to do the trick?
A: No. In other markets maybe, but not in Japan.
Q: Do you think XBOX can be successful in Japan? What will it take before Microsoft will give up and say it just isn't working
A: Of course Microsoft can be successful in Japan with XBOX. There is no law that XBOX cannot be successful in Japan. Microsoft generally is a company that never gives up. But they have to change their strategy for Japan.
Q: So Microsoft isn't doing the right things. What would the right things be?
A: Difficult to say of course, if it was easy Microsoft would already have done this. The situation is that Nintendo has completely changed the business paradigm of the game industry. Microsoft's XBOX is still operating under the old paradigm.
Q: How long do you think Nintendo's sweetspot is going to last?
A: Nintendo have reinvented the game industry, and completely changed the business models. They also make a lot of their own software. All this puts Nintendo into a very good position.
What can we learn about strategy for Japan from Microsoft's XBOX experience:
Global products, not adapted to Japan's market, often do not succeed in Japan. Microsoft's XBOX is a very good example. Microsoft has one of Japan's most famous brands, so its not a problem of the brand. Microsoft faces three problems in Japan:
(1) XBOX is not made for Japanese users in mind
(2) Nintendo changed the paradigm of the game industry, and XBOX is still on the old track
(3) Of three global game console companies (Nintendo, SONY, Nintendo) two are both much stronger than Microsoft in games, and both are on their hometurf in Japan. Microsoft would need to invest more and focus efforts much more on Japan to succeed in Japan with XBOX.
Read more about Japan's game markets in our "Japan's Game Industry" report. (watch for the new edition to be published shortly - we are working on the new totally revised edition day-and-night...)
During the period January-June 2005, three years after introduction of the XBOX to Japan's market, SONY sold about 2.4 Million game terminals in Japan, Nintendo sold about 1.9 Million, and Microsoft about 9000 XBOXes, about 0.2% marketshare.
As of August 24, 2008, Nintendo has sold about 6.7 Million Wii, SONY has sold about 2.3 PS3, and Microsoft about 380,000 XBOX-360 in Japan, a 4% share in this segment.
A few days ago, Microsoft announced a price cut of 30% for XBOX-360 in Japan - the video below gives our comments on this price reduction on CNBC.
Here is a short summary of the CNBC-TV interview:
Q: Do you think the price reduction is going to do the trick?
A: No. In other markets maybe, but not in Japan.
Q: Do you think XBOX can be successful in Japan? What will it take before Microsoft will give up and say it just isn't working
A: Of course Microsoft can be successful in Japan with XBOX. There is no law that XBOX cannot be successful in Japan. Microsoft generally is a company that never gives up. But they have to change their strategy for Japan.
Q: So Microsoft isn't doing the right things. What would the right things be?
A: Difficult to say of course, if it was easy Microsoft would already have done this. The situation is that Nintendo has completely changed the business paradigm of the game industry. Microsoft's XBOX is still operating under the old paradigm.
Q: How long do you think Nintendo's sweetspot is going to last?
A: Nintendo have reinvented the game industry, and completely changed the business models. They also make a lot of their own software. All this puts Nintendo into a very good position.
What can we learn about strategy for Japan from Microsoft's XBOX experience:
Global products, not adapted to Japan's market, often do not succeed in Japan. Microsoft's XBOX is a very good example. Microsoft has one of Japan's most famous brands, so its not a problem of the brand. Microsoft faces three problems in Japan:
(1) XBOX is not made for Japanese users in mind
(2) Nintendo changed the paradigm of the game industry, and XBOX is still on the old track
(3) Of three global game console companies (Nintendo, SONY, Nintendo) two are both much stronger than Microsoft in games, and both are on their hometurf in Japan. Microsoft would need to invest more and focus efforts much more on Japan to succeed in Japan with XBOX.
Read more about Japan's game markets in our "Japan's Game Industry" report. (watch for the new edition to be published shortly - we are working on the new totally revised edition day-and-night...)
Labels: 360, japan, market entry, marketshare, microsoft, nintendo, playstation, ps3, sony, wii, xbox, xbox360
Friday, March 16, 2007
"Help - my mobile phone does not work!" - Why Japan's mobile phone sector is so different from Europe's
Presentation at the Lunch meeting of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) on March 16, 2007 at the Westin Hotel, Tokyo.
Find the summary and photos of the meeting here
Download the presentation here
From the Announcement:
In his presentation, Dr. Fasol will explain the essentials of Japan's mobile phone market, why and how it is so different to Europe's. He will also talk about some of the reasons why it is so difficult for European companies to succeed and uncover opportunities and the keys to success for European companies in this important market.
Find the summary and photos of the meeting here
Download the presentation here
From the Announcement:
In his presentation, Dr. Fasol will explain the essentials of Japan's mobile phone market, why and how it is so different to Europe's. He will also talk about some of the reasons why it is so difficult for European companies to succeed and uncover opportunities and the keys to success for European companies in this important market.
Labels: docomo, handy, japan, KDDI, keitai, mobile phone, nokia, Softbank
Thursday, October 28, 1999
New opportunities versus old mistakes: Foreign companies in Japan's high-tech markets
Labels: business in japan, failure, japan, market entry, stanford, strategy, success
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