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KDDI to enter US mobile phone market

This story has been all over the news, but I was glad to see a fellow Tokyo-based blogger show up as the #1 result on Google News: That would be Digital World Tokyo with Japan’s No. 2 phone network to launch in US. As J. Mark Little points out on his site:

KDDI Mobile, as the new company will be known, is aimed mainly at Japanese people living in the US, which will disappoint the booming numbers of Japanophile gadget fans in that country.

Fortunately, they don’t need to fret about missing out on the high-end phones Japan is famous for, as KDDI Mobile will initially offer only the rather uninspiring choice of a drab Sanyo 2400 handset or an LG 225.

Putting aside the question of why anyone, Japanese or otherwise would not just go for the better selection of phones on Sprint, it’s interesting to note that media coverage so far has focused on the absence of ‘cool’ Japanese handsets at the new company’s launch.

Good point. AFP has also pointed out the DoCoMo has been losing money on similar overseas ventures and that KDDI’s service could be running as early as June.

Forbes tells us that the story was originally broke by the Asahi Shimbun.

This is just a guess: KDDI is going to move into the US with a small virtual operator service aimed at Japanese living in America. This will generate some buzz and attention. Once they have the foothold in the US and conduct some market research, real expansion in the US market can begin. It might even end up being under a different brand name. What they really stand in a position to do in the US market is bring cheap, yet cool (or different looking) handsets to the US at the same time as Apple starts charging an arm and a leg for the iPhone. Bad idea?

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