In the previous post by Chris Schoenwald, he raised a good point in regards to his Nokia phone. And as I too own a Nokia phone, I definitely understand his torment and pure frustration as a result of it's unfriendly and pain-stakingly slow programming and transition times....Therefore, it leads me to wonder about Nokia's intended entry into the Japanese keitai market as cellphone service provider, a mobile virtual network provider (MVNO) as early as February next year.
The Yomiuri Shimbun learned on Friday November 22 2008, that Nokia will start its own cell phone service under its high-end brand Vertu. Vertu is known for its extremely expensive handsets that are often designed with titanium, gold, jewels and crystal. The brand is sold in about 50 regions and markets. Vertu's handsets also come with a "concierge key" that provides the handset's owner 24-hour service that can fulfill various personal requests, such as flight, hotel and restaurant reservations. And with a retail price of between 1.6 million yen and 5 million yen and its first outlet being opened in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza area, it is definitely targeting higher-end affluent consumers...well I guess I won't be buying one then!
Analysts say, Nokia's entry could shake up competition in the domestic market. But, with the handsets not being compatible with Docomo's i-mode Internet service or providing one-seg terrestrial digital TV reception, which is pretty much the Japanese mobile users staple keitai diet, I really question the appeal then...
Despite that, it will become the first handset manufacturer to provide cell phone services in Japan, which is dominated by three main carriers--NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Mobile Corp. Therefore, I take my hat off to Nokia but it doesn't mean I will be buying another one anytime soon...
Australian Chris
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