Summary
It is surprising that Japanese vendors have never really challenged European and Korean (and now Chinese) handset suppliers in global markets despite the country's prowess in and domestic use of consumer electronics, as well as its early adoption of mobile broadband services.
Analysis
The best explanation for the failures of Japanese handset vendors to build successful global market positions is that they remained too closely linked to national wireless standards as promulgated by NTT. Japan failed to anticipate the enormous success of GSM, and did not jump on the less important but nevertheless significant CDMA alternative as did the Koreans. As Japan itself moves onto the global mainstream in 4G wireless technologies, as it did to some extent with WCDMA, perhaps there will be an opportunity for a Japanese vendor to move into the top tier of mobile handset vendors during the next decade. However, to accomplish this feat, which the announced merger of the 3 Japanese handset vendors is aiming at, will require a competitor that is able to compete effectively not only against Nokia and the Koreans, but can also take on newcomers as diverse as Apple and the Chinese.
This author consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
