Japanese Carrier DoCoMo Experiences Record Loss in Subscribers as iPhone 5s Shortages Continue

[BC2009]

DoCoMo's mistake was waiting this long to offer the iPhone. They insisted that they would not release a smartphone without their own apps pre-installed. Apple told them where to stick it until they came back and agreed to Apple's terms. But now it was probably too little too late for iPhone 5s production. New carriers to iPhone always get less stock than existing carriers (look at Sprint and T-Mobile in the USA compared to AT&T and Verizon).

In Japan, being the first with a new tech gadget is a huge status symbol because the Japanese are largely a culture of tech enthusiasts. If NTT DoCoMo is out of stock, but Softbank or KDDI have a store across the street and they have stock then why wouldn't somebody switch?

The iPhone is not going boost NTT DoCoMo's sales because their competitors already have it. Getting the iPhone on NTT DoCoMo is going to be about slowing and reversing the losses of subscribers in the long term. Just imagine how big those subscriber losses would have been without the iPhone on DoCoMo.

 

[paulrbeers]

Yeah, the almighty Apple has disappointed again. Besides short supplies and using last years model as the iPhone 5s, they don't have any in stock. What a boner of a marketing and sales plan. They are arrogant and actually pretty stupid. Now companies and consumers have to pay the price for this.

Says the guy that didn't get one.....

----------

The mountains and dense cities in Japan complicate it.
Would not surprise me if they have as many cell nodes as third of USA.

.

I guess if we completely ignore NYC, San Francisco, Boston (okay maybe they aren't QUITE as dense as Tokyo, but close in many sections).

Or the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachian Mountains (which by the way are waayyyy larger than the entire country of Japan).

How about giant bodies of water such as the Great lakes and the Great Salt lake...

Just saying, Japan's got nothin on the US.

 

[unplugme71]

This. This is one of the most asinine thing the carriers do to loyal customers. I think they feel it will be too much of an issue for us to switch so they call our bluff. Typically, for the most part they are right. We stay. For what ever reason, we stay.

That's because it's easier to stay than switch. I have auto-pay setup with 3 phone lines that all end on different dates months apart. For me to leave, I could only do one phone every 2-3 months or wait a year until all contracts expired. At that point, I'll forget about the one bad experience.

I wish a phone company would come in that is more reasonable (at least with the 'extra fees'). Eg (no activation/upgrade fees, no fees to tether the data you already are contracted for, etc).

----------

I think the FCC (like the FAA forced airlines to include bogus fees in the real cost of the tickets last year. The FCC should force carriers in the USA they cannot advertise "free" phones on contract if they are charging a $36 upgrade/activation fee.

Think FCC should force carriers to list iPhones at $235 (for att) $199 plus $36

And $229 for verizon ($199 plus $30 upgrade fee).

That way it makes it crystal clear what the real prices are. Either att has to lower their $36 fee or verizon raises their fees to make the prices look the same.

Or just not charge activation fees since you do it through itunes anyhow.

 

[liavman]

A quick math reveals this loss of subscribers may only have a little bit to do with the 5s shortage.

They lost 3.2 million subscribers over 54 months. That is an average loss of approx. 60000 a month. This September they lost 66,800. Just a 10% increase can be explained by normal volatility and aggressive marketing strategies by its competitors. And the iPhone 5s was there only for the last 10 days of the month.

Only thing we can say is, some 6000 (net) current subscribers waited to switch over to 5s, but DocoMo could not give them a 5s, so they bolted to the competitors. But given that they have many millions of customers, this is just too insignificant. This is a news story mainly because the iPhone introduction is supposed to stop the bleeding but it has not. But this is too early to tell.

Consider the backdrop to this story. The other two carriers increased their subscriber count by 250K+ each, taking 52% of the market share (combined). There is more going on beyond just not having enough iPhone 5s supplies.

 

[Solomani]

I think this is the answer. it's almost better to choose a new carrier each time you get a new iPhone. To have the new user bonus always.

So in other words.... most of the large carriers are still MORONS because they still fail to understand the concept of "rewarding long-term customer loyalty".

 

[liavman]

So in other words.... most of the large carriers are still MORONS because they still fail to understand the concept of "rewarding long-term customer loyalty".

Case in point in a different industry. I heard a Comcast commercial touting some great monthly rates. At the end, there was a quick disclaimer: Not available to current subscribers.

Usually, calling them and trying to cancel their service so you will be eligible for such discounts in a few months does the trick. They will send you to a special 'cancellation' line where they will do something to retain you.

 

[calaverasgrande]

I dont blame them. I wonder what the numbers look like in the US?
Personally I was so fed up with the whole deal, I was about to jump to a flip phone.

ps my bad luck that my previous iphone died just before the 5S came out.

 

[stanleywkl]

They would have loss more had they decided not to sign up selling iPhone

 

[Nevaborn]

A quick math reveals this loss of subscribers may only have a little bit to do with the 5s shortage.

They lost 3.2 million subscribers over 54 months. That is an average loss of approx. 60000 a month. This September they lost 66,800. Just a 10% increase can be explained by normal volatility and aggressive marketing strategies by its competitors. And the iPhone 5s was there only for the last 10 days of the month.

Only thing we can say is, some 6000 (net) current subscribers waited to switch over to 5s, but DocoMo could not give them a 5s, so they bolted to the competitors. But given that they have many millions of customers, this is just too insignificant. This is a news story mainly because the iPhone introduction is supposed to stop the bleeding but it has not. But this is too early to tell.

Consider the backdrop to this story. The other two carriers increased their subscriber count by 250K+ each, taking 52% of the market share (combined). There is more going on beyond just not having enough iPhone 5s supplies.

^ This.

The 5S is not responsible for the loss. It just hasnt been enough to keep people as they can get it on other networks. But they have been bleeding customers a while

 

[Taz Mangus]

KFC and McDonalds are HUGE in Japan, and the food is actually much better then in USA.

I just came back from a trip to Japan and I can tell you that the quality of McDonalds in Japan is no better then it is in the USA having eaten at one in Japan.

 

[charlituna]

A quick math reveals this loss of subscribers may only have a little bit to do with the 5s shortage.

If you really like your carrier you stay and wait for more hardware stock.

And if they were out of stock faster compared to the other carriers it could be that they didn't buy as many units. That's how it usually works with the carriers. They buy and they are stuck with anything that doesn't sell. So they often under buy out of fear that something won't be that popular. Only to find they guessed wrong

 

[imageWIS]

DoCoMo's mistake was waiting this long to offer the iPhone. They insisted that they would not release a smartphone without their own apps pre-installed. Apple told them where to stick it until they came back and agreed to Apple's terms. But now it was probably too little too late for iPhone 5s production. New carriers to iPhone always get less stock than existing carriers (look at Sprint and T-Mobile in the USA compared to AT&T and Verizon).

In Japan, being the first with a new tech gadget is a huge status symbol because the Japanese are largely a culture of tech enthusiasts. If NTT DoCoMo is out of stock, but Softbank or KDDI have a store across the street and they have stock then why wouldn't somebody switch?

The iPhone is not going boost NTT DoCoMo's sales because their competitors already have it. Getting the iPhone on NTT DoCoMo is going to be about slowing and reversing the losses of subscribers in the long term. Just imagine how big those subscriber losses would have been without the iPhone on DoCoMo.

AT&T gets more stock than Verizon. Anyways, I like my 5s

 

[PracticalMac]

I guess if we completely ignore NYC, San Francisco, Boston (okay maybe they aren't QUITE as dense as Tokyo, but close in many sections).

Or the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachian Mountains (which by the way are waayyyy larger than the entire country of Japan).

How about giant bodies of water such as the Great lakes and the Great Salt lake...

Just saying, Japan's got nothin on the US.

Well, true.

I lived in Japan for a few months, the cities are denser then NY, and they cram themselves into mountain crevices Americans would not.
As well as rocks of islands.

Just sayin

 

[rpenzinger]

Safari is snappier on DoCoMo

 

[ob81]

I just came back from a trip to Japan and I can tell you that the quality of McDonalds in Japan is no better then it is in the USA having eaten at one in Japan.

I completely disagree with this statement.

 

[the8thark]

So in other words.... most of the large carriers are still MORONS because they still fail to understand the concept of "rewarding long-term customer loyalty".

Yes you have it totally right and I agree.

 

[macs4nw]

Somebody needs to learn how to spell "Avaliability"! Twice. Damn. Now I've gone and done it.

Sharp eye!! Some of us missed that.

DoCoMo lost 66,800 subscribers, while Softbank and KDDI gained a combined total of over 503,000 subscribers, despite DoCoMo's reportedly superior network? What piece of the puzzle are we missing here, cause that doesn't seem to add up.

Are Softbank and KDDI give preferential stock availability, due to their earlier support for Apple's iPhone? Can one of our fellow forum members in Japan enlighten us as to what's really going on?

 

[nervouk]

I guess Docomo's CEO regrets all that mild trash-talking he's done of the iPhone over the past few years.

Like many other large local Japanese companies they were arrogant in their belief that Japanese consumers would always prefer them just because, that Japanese consumers are somehow 'special' with 'unique needs' different to all other humans, and that having a technological edge in the 1990s & early 2000s meant things would stay the same forever.

That said, otherwise they're not a bad provider.

 

[CFreymarc]

KFC and McDonalds are HUGE in Japan, and the food is actually much better then in USA.

One thing that really surprised me was how much American cars and motorcycles are viewed as total rebel of an image statement. I did a double take when I saw a gang of Harley Sportsters rumble through Tokyo one evening.

 

[hyhybt]

Why stay with one provider?

One reason people stay with the same carrier even if there's a slightly better deal elsewhere (and waiving the activation fee isn't much over the course of a two year contract) is consistency. You know what you're getting firsthand, while knowing the others mainly by word of mouth. I've stuck with AT&T (and Cingular before that, and Bellsouth Mobility before that) because I know I'll have a signal almost everywhere I am in a normal month (and where the dead spot is), because I've never had any trouble on the rare times I've had to call customer service (despite constantly hearing other people complain no matter which company they're with, including this one), because I never have trouble with my bill, and so on. Now, of course that *could* change at any time, but there's no reason to think it will, and therefore switching would at best leave things the same.

 

[windowpain]

The mountains and dense cities in Japan complicate it.
Would not surprise me if they have as many cell nodes as third of USA.

I was interested about this, and had a quick check.
According to this link the US has 190,000 cell phone towers.

According to this link (in 2011) Docomo alone had 90,000.

I would guess that Softbank has around 70,000 and KDDI has about 60,000 (purely a guess on these numbers..I couldn't find any info.)

The US is obviously far bigger geographically (and about 3 times the population), but the vast majority of Japanese live within 3 hours of a mountain. The close proximity of the buildings too (relative to the US) probably necessitate a denser cell tower network.

Almost every part of Japan (particularly on Honshu) is covered by cell phone reception.

 

[PracticalMac]

I was interested about this, and had a quick check.
According to this link the US has 190,000 cell phone towers.

According to this link (in 2011) Docomo alone had 90,000.

I would guess that Softbank has around 70,000 and KDDI has about 60,000 (purely a guess on these numbers..I couldn't find any info.)

The US is obviously far bigger geographically (and about 3 times the population), but the vast majority of Japanese live within 3 hours of a mountain. The close proximity of the buildings too (relative to the US) probably necessitate a denser cell tower network.

Almost every part of Japan (particularly on Honshu) is covered by cell phone reception.

Thanks for posting!

That's a heck of a lot more towers when I expected!
I think I forgot the Japanese use cell phones for everything!
They use it like we use PC's, and almost everyone has one.

----------

LOL! Maybe if New York city wasn't part of the US.

I guess if we completely ignore NYC, San Francisco, Boston (okay maybe they aren't QUITE as dense as Tokyo, but close in many sections).

Or the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachian Mountains (which by the way are waayyyy larger than the entire country of Japan).

How about giant bodies of water such as the Great lakes and the Great Salt lake...

Just saying, Japan's got nothin on the US.

Seems like Japan has more towers when even I expected.
Almost as many as USA.