Pingback by BizCast Japan #14: The iPhone in Japan, Department Stores, Real Estate, the G8, Nissan, Shinsei and Consumer Sentiment Japan Economy News & Blog - Business, Economy, Marketing and Economic Reports

July 14, 2008 @ 5:20 pm

[…] This is a quick note that BizCast Japan #14 has been released over at Trans-Pacific Radio. In this edition of the show, Albrecht Stahmer and I start with a follow-up on the state of Tokyo’s department store scene, and then move into a host of other topics. […]

Comment by Ken Worsley

July 14, 2008 @ 5:25 pm

As a follow-up to the G8 talk: How the Media Ruined the G-8 over at Foreign Policy.

Comment by Ken Worsley

July 15, 2008 @ 8:13 am

Another one related to Softbank, from the Nikkei:

Institutional Investors Skip Softbank’s Securitized Receivables

Softbank Corp. recently issued only to individuals securitized receivables based on mobile phone sales, marking the first time no such products of the firm were bought by institutional investors.

This development indicates that institutional investors have little or no appetite for securities products in general following the subprime-triggered market meltdown.

Softbank securitized about 45 billion yen in receivables from installment payments on cellular phones for the April-June quarter. Some institutional investors expressed interest, but apparently could not agree with the seller on purchase conditions.

For Softbank’s first three quarterly issuances of securitized receivables that began in June 2007, 60-70% of the products were purchased by institutional investors. But individuals became the dominant buyers for the January-March issuance.

Softbank plans to raise 200-220 billion yen by securitizing receivables from cell phone sales this fiscal year.

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Search/Nni20080703D03JFA21.htm

Comment by Ken Worsley

July 15, 2008 @ 8:22 am

Another quick follow-up from the Nikkei, this time on the iPhone:

iPhone Dominates Japan’s Cell Phone Market On Release

It took only three days from its debut on July 11 for worldwide sales of the new iPhone 3G from Apple Inc. to breach 1 million units.

In Japan, interest was so strong that the iPhone accounted for 40% of all handset sales by volume electronics retailers on the day of its release, according to GfK Marketing Services Japan Ltd.

Furthermore, 50% of all handset sales that day took place at outlets run by Softbank Mobile Corp., the Softbank Corp. (9984) unit that handles sales of the iPhone 3G in Japan. To put that in perspective, such outlets rang up only 19% of all handset sales on the day before the launch.

Two versions of the iPhone 3G are available in Japan, with a 16-gigabyte model notching 33% of all handset sales on July 11. The smaller-capacity 8GB model accounted for 8% of mobile phone sales.

When coupled with a two-year service contract, the 16GB handset costs only 11,520 yen more than the 8GB model, and this appears to have been a deciding factor in customer purchases.

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20080714D14JFA22.htm

Comment by Steve Schapiro

July 15, 2008 @ 9:38 am

Welcome back, guys.

As for the iPhone, is there even a sufficient wirless network up in Tokyo to really take advantage of its capabilities? How much of this is just a fashion purchase?

I hope it’s as easy to use as it’s cracked up to be - waiting outside in Omotesando for a day or two to get a new cell phone is not a mark of intelligence or logical thinking.