NTT DoCoMo CEO Cites 'Compelling Reasons' to Reach Long-Elusive iPhone Deal with Apple in Japan

[PadreQuevedo]

NTT should not worry about iPhone and marketshare since everyone is migrating to Android smartphones.

iPhone has NOTHING to offer to Japanese customers.

No NFC, no One-Seg....

 

[brymck]

Even with the losses, however, the carrier still holds over 40% of the Japanese mobile phone market.

Eh, here in Japan, if you want an iPhone you've probably switched, hence Docomo's massive outflow of customers.

Fact is, up until the iPhone, phones here were burdened with awful, awful carrier-designed apps and logos. Carriers demanded seasonal updates to phones to accommodate every fad ever. It was impossible for phonemakers to scale. Apple is standing firm because acceding to the demands of one carrier diminishes their bargaining power against every single carrier they have on board and ever intend to bring on board. Others may want them to fail out of some misguided hatred, but even if I switch at some point I'd rather have Apple fighting that battle.

 

[PracticalMac]

Not sure if this is another situation where Japanese honor or pride is hurting their business, but we have seen this over and over again with many Japanese companies over the last decade not adapting fast enough to the needs of their customers, both local and worldwide.

Nintendo refusing to make iOS games perhaps?

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Docomo sucks kintamas

Gold(en) ball? (trying to translate)

 

[DragonJade]

I wonder if Docomo will have their iPhones unlocked.

 

[brymck]

Nintendo refusing to make iOS games perhaps?

Very similar. Nintendo's price rallied in 2011 when people found out a Pokemon game was coming to iPhone and figured Nintendo was taking an interest in mobile games. Nintendo had to issue a press release saying they had no interest in developing for iOS, after which they stock price fell back down.

However, it's worth noting that management with tunnel vision is not unique to Japan, and there are plenty of counterexamples. Companies like DeNA, Gree and GungHo have been very successful in the mobile game space. I mean, GungHo's market cap already exceeds Nintendo's, and that's basically because of one game, Puzzle & Dragons.

Gold(en) ball? (trying to translate)

Nope, just regular ones. (An English analog might be "family jewels.")

 

[szw-mapple fan]

DoCoMo is heavily into mobile payments, and is under the delusion that it can keep things that way. THAT is what this is all about.
I imagine that they could do what they do with an App Store app (though I don't know how their system works) but they'd presumably have to give Apple a cut of that on-going revenue, and that's what they're trying to avoid.

The issue is less, I would say, about pre-loaded apps and more about the split of mobile payments revenue.

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Don't get caught up in the hype.
Japan has been very big in the past on technology that superficially looked cool but was actually a ridiculously stupid and impractical idea.

Their analog (rather than digital) HDTV system was one example; broadcasting movies over the cell network is another example --- solving a non-existent problem in a way that will never be practical because the bandwidth IS NOT THERE.

There's a reason no-one speaks in awed tones about the dominance of Japan in the mobile market. A solution that takes off has to actually WORK (which means things like be able to scale to the realities of the practical world) rather than just be a neat tech demo.

Most of those stuff actually works. The TV-on-the-phone (also known as 1-seg ) is very mature and quite amazing. Japanese phones were truly the best compared phones from similar era. That is, until the iPhone came out.

 

[aussieinjapan]

Masayoshi Son, is that you?

DoCoMo is far superior to any other carrier in Japan — and is arguably one of the best carriers in the world. Great voice quality, fantastic customer service, competitive pricing.

Yes, the bloatware DoCoMo installs on phones does indeed suck. But if DoCoMo does manage to get the iPhone, Son's Softbank will be doomed.

Competitive pricing my A#$ ! Docomo are rip off merchants all the way. It wasn't until they had some decent competition that the mobile market really opened up. I will give you 1 point for customer service bit.

I do agree that if they do get the iphone, softbank will be in a lot of trouble BUT only if Docomo drop their prices....Softbank dont sell that many phones - last time I was in a shop, they had the iphone plus maybe 3 or 4 others on display.

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NTT should not worry about iPhone and marketshare since everyone is migrating to Android smartphones.

iPhone has NOTHING to offer to Japanese customers.

No NFC, no One-Seg....

You dont live in Japan, do you ?

My GOD - just ride the train and look at all the iphones people have.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

just ride the train and look at all the iphones people have.

Yes, lots of iPhones ... But also lots of "docomo xi" Androids (bigger screen, Samsung I assume).
Last time I even saw one iPhone with NTT as provider icon; that person "hacked" the system.

 

[DragonJade]

Last time I even saw one iPhone with NTT as provider icon; that person "hacked" the system.

Docomo lets unlocked iPhones onto their network.

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Softbank dont sell that many phones - last time I was in a shop, they had the iphone plus maybe 3 or 4 others on display.

That must have been more of a Softbank cubical than a store.

 

[JoeDarkness]

I moved the other way I had a iPhone 4 and moved to DoCoMo

Why ?.. well I was sick of the calls dropping and slow data network But the thing that annoyed me most the fact you can't get your Phone unlocked even if you pay for it .. So a big F**$ you to Softbank and Apple

I have a L-01D it's a good phone with great LTE ,No dropped calls .. Paid 3,000 JPY and it's unlocked took it on holiday to the UK using a 3 sim

The fact you can't get a unlocked iPhone here coupled with Apples ****** business practices means that I may not get another iPhone

 

[jav6454]

Some carriers are sure obstinate when it comes to their terms....

 

[SactoGuy18]

I think if NTT DoCoMo does get the iPhone 5S, expect the following:

1. All the NTT DoCoMo apps will be stored on its own separate folder under iOS 7.0--in short, the iPhone 5S from NTT DoCoMo looks like any regular iPhone but with a press of a special icon brings up all the NTT DoCoMo apps.

2. NTT DoCoMo may have worked with Apple to produce a special protective case that has all the FeliCa-compatible NFC radio/antenna hardware, and the NFC data is sent back and forth through the Lightning port.

 

[JediZenMaster]

I think if NTT DoCoMo does get the iPhone 5S, expect the following:

1. All the NTT DoCoMo apps will be stored on its own separate folder under iOS 7.0--in short, the iPhone 5S from NTT DoCoMo looks like any regular iPhone but with a press of a special icon brings up all the NTT DoCoMo apps.

I hope not because then every other carrier will want to install their own CRAP on the phone. The iPhone other than the reinstalled apple apps should stay virgin out of the box.