Can the BlackBerry Crack Japan?

From our daily One Page Annotated WSJ summary:

Arriving Late, Can BlackBerry Hook Japan's Mobile Market?

Summary: NTT DoCoMo (DCM), Japan's largest mobile-phone operator, has begun marketing Research in Motion's (RIMM) advanced BlackBerry 8707h. There appears to be strong interest among expats and particularly in investment banking. Since most Japanese have never heard of the BlackBerry and are unlikely to take to its "clunky" and "large" design compared to Japanese handsets, DoCoMo is accordingly only selling it to corporate customers and even then, particularly to foreign employees of MNCs. Furthermore, there are some differences in business culture that make the BlackBerry less meaningful to the Japanese, such as working longer hours as opposed to making oneself available via wireless/email, and doing more business face-to-face instead of relying on email; few Japanese companies even have a system in place that syncs office email networks with devices such as BlackBerries.
Related links: Full WSJ article • DoCoMo Press Release: Marketing the BlackBerry • BlackBerry Going to Japan via NTT DoCoMo -- Don't Get Excited • Two Reasons Why Research in Motion Should Outperform • Research In Motion Still Priced For Perfection • RIMM Press Release: 2Q Results to be Announced Sept. 28 • Conference call transcripts: Research in Motion F1Q07
Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: RIMM competitors: Nokia Corp. (NOK), Palm Inc. (PALM), Motorola Inc. (MOT)

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Comments

[Gen Kanai:]

There is absolutely no way the Blackberry will gain any traction in Japan. Correct me if I am wrong but the model that NTT is selling doesn't support Japanese.

If you really wanted a Blackberry, you could have bought a Hong Kong Blackberry that works in Japan currently (DoCoMo and Vodafone/Softbank networks).

This is much ado about nothing.

2006 Sep 26 10:36 AM

[Steven Towns:]

Thank you Gen!!! I said as much back in June (see "Related links" above) when news of this first broke in mainstream media. It really makes you wonder. But then again, the interest level seems really high among some expats (the article mentions i-bankers) and of course those fresh of the plane at Narita.

By the way, I tried contacting DoCoMo offices in California to ask about a service they offer that allows Japanese capabilities on BlackBerries in the U.S. (see DoCoMo's Namikiteru website) but never received a reply. Interesting, and oddly enough, the language capabilities in the U.S. seem to be better than what is being offered in Japan (read only vs. read & write). So, it really seems like this targeted to expats with limited use for Japanese language and again, those visiting and on business.

2006 Sep 26 10:49 AM