Paul wrote:
<quote>
Why are Western manufacturers unable to create the same fancy handsets as the
Japanese manufacturers and why the Japanese manufacturers produce the same
unattractive handsets in the West as all Western manufacturers do?
</quote>
I think you have partly answered your own questions, by stating (roughly :-)
* "GSM technology needs more space"
GSM is, arguably, *not* more advanced than PDC by any means, at least I
wouldn't know how or why. Maybe someone else could discuss this in more
detail. \x72 \x65 \x6e \x66 \x69 \x65 \x6c \x64, are you reading, over?
It is often argued that added weight and size of the European phones would be
partly due to the network being weaker, forcing the handset to work "harder"
than in Japan. Thus one has to increase battery size and weight. But hey; I
have a Panasonic G50 (GSM) that is almost similar to my (old, *sigh*...) P207
(PDC). Same manufacturer. Different market. Only a one-year lag in the GSM/PDC
transition I recon. But you see the same phenomenon occuring with Sony VCR's,
TV's, Viao notebooks, and even Aibo's...
Getting market share in Japan first is still very lucrative, for almost all
Japanese consumer electronic makers. It also provides a good test market for
what is "hot" and what is "not". Being a Japanese company, you probably do not
want to export something, pay for marketing, bribe away import tarrifs,
arrange sake-drinking with Sumitomo Shipping, while your product is in fact, a
"not".
* "Japanese manufacturers have a grip on components"
They do produce them in-house in some cases. Also, tight industrial
relationships with component suppliers exist. Could Jeffrey Funk tell us more
about this one? Please?
* "Japanese manufacturers might wait for the right time to introduce their
advanced products and thus make use of their competitive advantage, as to
avoid bringing increased competition into the scene too early"
Interesting point! But it would seem to me that by introducing for example a
NEC foldable 503i phone, Western manufacturers would have to admit a fast
defeat, at least in the short run. In the long run, however, they could catch
up or indeed leverage some of the "Japanese" technology into their own
products. This would indeed be a refreshing and valid argument! Maybe Japanese
manufacturers *are* waiting for 3G, but maybe they are waiting for DoCoMo to
export i-mode to Europe. Now if they only were participating on this list...
;-)
What I would like to add, is that in Japan a tighter relationship exists
between operator and manufacturer. This enables the manufacturer to do joint
research with the operator, thus lowering overall costs for development
(DoCoMo has quite the R&D centre in Yokosuka I believe). Shared R&D projects
are to be "owned" by the operator, since he/she also pays the lions share of
costs. Because the operator acts as an "owner", all manufacturers in the
closed group can benefit from the technological advancements made. I do not
think this system has a Western counterpart.
Controlled competition all the way, dear Watson. See www.pikula.com, "My
Thesis", Chapter 5 for more on this topic. **
Cheers,
Victor Pikula
** Not a plug in any way, since unfortunately I'm not making any money with
this stuff. I just want to brag with some people over my page hits (LoL).
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Thu Mar 15 01:43:28 2001