On Wed, 6 Sep 2006, Gerhard Fasol wrote:
> When DoCoMo still had the monopoly for mobile phones in Japan,
> all mobile phones were on lease.
>
> There was US-Japan trade friction about the mobile phone leases,
> and US Government said that it was a trade barrier for Motorola
> and other US manufacturers of mobile phones that mobile phones
> were leased in Japan. Japan gave in, ended the leases, and started
> to sell mobile phones.
Rather silly, since the trade barrier has always been whether or not
Docomo was going to add the phone to their lineup. If they decide not
to, the phone won't sell because it can't connect, regardless of whether
one is leasing or buying.
> At that time Japan's mobile phone market started to take off.
And are you asserting that the change from leasing phones to selling
them was a large factor in making the market take off? I'd like to see
your justification for this, including an explanation of why the other
factors weren't very important.
> I don't think anyone will go back to the time of leasing phones
Perhaps not, though I don't see why it's so different from leasing cars,
which is an extremely popular way (in North America) to make sure you're
always driving a fairly new car.
cjs
--
Curt Sampson <cjs@cynic.net> +81 90 7737 2974
Received on Thu Sep 14 13:52:56 2006