COMMENT: Return of the keitai in Europe?

News

Tim Green Dec 19 2008, 11:38am

ME exec ed Tim Green on how Japanese handset manufacturers could be coming back to Europe in a big way.

Cast your mind back to the early years of this decade. N Sync and Shania Twain are blasting out of your CD walkman and you’ve just given your box-fresh Reeboks a little extra pump.

You take a call on your mobile. But what make is it? Well, pick any brand from over a dozen. Back then, the handset market was crowded to say the least.

In addition to the ‘big five’ we know today you could choose from NEC, Sharp, Sendo, Siemens, Philips, Panasonic and even Bosch. Yeah, Bosch! Not just for putting shelves up.

Occasionally, other esteemed names from the world of consumer electronics would dip into the space. I remember Toshiba having a go. And Sanyo too, which must have felt the steam was running out of the ‘radiogram’ market.

Now, of course, it’s all a bit like Premier League football (sorry to be UK-centric, international readers). Footy in the UK is dominated by the same four teams year in year out, thanks to factors too arcane to go into here (but ask me in a pub and prepare for five hours of bitter ranting).

Similarly, mobile has its apparently immovable top five. Yes, I know Apple, Blackberry and HTC might have something to say about this, but in the feature phone market it’s a long time since Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson had any serious competition.

Well, a source tells me that the Japanese are planning a fresh assault on the Western market in 2009. The alarming collapse in domestic sales of 'keitai', with shipments down nearly 60 per cent in October because of operators charging more for handsets, is apparently causing Japan’s phone firms to look again at Europe. It makes sense.

Although virtually all markets are saturated, there must be an opportunity given the weakness of Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Then there’s Nokia, which is playing a game of chicken with operators over content services.

I remember being at the launch of Vodafone 3G in 2004, and the flagship device was the Sharp 902. Hard to believe now.

But given that operators and not the public are the real customers of handset companies, a little shake-up might well be on the cards. The property crash must have laid waste to the DIY market.

Now’s your chance, Bosch.