Why have South Korean phone makers become big in the world market but not Japanese?

[Super Chimp]

I mean Samsung is now number one in a number of markets & number two in most other markets. LG have been growing at a huge rate in the world market too & seem to have literally come out of nowhere in mobile world market.

Other than Sony as one half of SE, who aren't doing so well these days, their is a notable absence of Japanese phone makers on the world stage. Why is that, what do the South Korean manufacturers have that the Japanese ones lack?

Is it the way that the Japanese phone market works that has crippled their ability to move onto a bigger stage. I mean many of these Japanese manufacturers are successful in the world market in other areas of electronics so you have to wonder.

[vgamovie]

Hello Super Chimp

I beg your tolerance because I don't know world wide market well.
But not only Korean makers, but also Nokia cannot show presence in Japan and it is easy to explain.

I think it is not important at a point of business view to be or not to be big in Japanese market.
Nevertheless, Japanese market requests higher technology year by year.
Result, it is meaningless to spend money to be 1st bender in Japan.

And to make cheap phone is not strong point of Japanese makers and you will not love cheap Japanese phone.
You have enough makers for cheap phones.

regards
vgamovie

[Super Chimp]

Hello Super Chimp

I beg your tolerance because I don't know world wide market well.
But not only Korean makers, but also Nokia cannot show presence in Japan and it is easy to explain.

I think it is not important at a point of business view to be or not to be big in Japanese market.
Nevertheless, Japanese market requests higher technology year by year.
Result, it is meaningless to spend money to be 1st bender in Japan.

And to make cheap phone is not strong point of Japanese makers and you will not love cheap Japanese phone.
You have enough makers for cheap phones.

regards
vgamovie

Are you implying that South Koreans don't produce high-tech handsets? I don't think the Japanese have the monopoly on advanced technology in handsets.

Because their flagship phones look pretty high-tech to me, in fact many consider that Samsung have now taken the crown from Nokia when it comes to producing the most high-tech handsets. Yes LG & samsung produce cheap handsets but they also produce plenty mid-range & high-end devices as well. I mean how many Japanese handsets have HD video recording like the Omnia HD?

[yangj08]

Definitely the high-tech. Heavy subsidies in Japan mean that they'd lose money if they tried to sell at the same prices outside Japan, and if they tried selling at a profit they'd attract a niche market at best. The exception is China, where the Sharp SH9020C has become the hottest-selling phone in its price bracket and people are buying the other models in droves (relatively speaking- their market share still pales in comparison to Nokia/Moto but that's because they don't have a wide model selection- if they had the same lineup in China as Japan they might have a higher market share, but Sharp doesn't want to do that and risk any flops).

[vgamovie]

Hello yangi08

I doubt that China is an exception because N85 (240x360) seems to get better sales than SH9020C.
Do you know advantage of N85 to SH9020C which fascinates Chinese?
In Japan, I guess 50% Keitais equip 480x854(or 864) screen.
Nevertheless, it seems 99% over cell phone equips less than 480x854 in other part of world.
It is what I learned at HowardForums.

regards
vgamovie

[aw614]

koreans know how to make cheap headsets that the masses want, hence all the millions of cheap touch screens they make that the sheep in america wants, before it was the tiny flip phone that samsung saturated the market. with their crappy semi auto hinge. or the samsung slider design, once samsung makes a high priced model, it slowly trickles down to the cheap models with the same design and less features, such as the d900 looking cheaper model, etc. They are cheap and they work for the general populaion.

And they work well with the US carrieres, no INNOV8 for the US even though there is a nam version on fcc filing, they dont release phones unbranded say what the carrier wants where as nokia and se have their issues here in the US

[gestaltent]

The Japanese are known for their high quality. The Chinese are known for keeping prices down and massive quantities up. The South Koreans seemed to have mastered a happy medium in both in keeping quality and quantity up and prices down. (Geez, how many cell phones does Samsung come out with a year? ) An oversimplification maybe, but it makes some sense. I trust a Samsung or an LG or a Pantech if it's made in S.K. If it says Made in China but doesn't have a non Chinese company brand on it, there's some room for doubt on the quality. If it says Made in Japan, I'd expect to pay more. Even then, there are still quality control issues with Japan branded Chinese manufactured goods (iPhone charger recall. Sony laptop battery problems. Etc.) . Japan didn't use to have that rep back in the day when they were going for a zero defect program on their tech exports ( a long time ago). Can't compete with China's much cheaper labor and manufacturing base. Heck, even the USA can't.
Btw, Taiwanese stuff seems pretty solid too .

Anyone care to add their two cents, two yen, two won, two yuan?

[Super Chimp]

The Japanese are known for their high quality. The Chinese are known for keeping prices down and massive quantities up. The South Koreans seemed to have mastered a happy medium in both in keeping quality and quantity up and prices down. (Geez, how many cell phones does Samsung come out with a year? ) An oversimplification maybe, but it makes some sense. I trust a Samsung or an LG or a Pantech if it's made in S.K. If it says Made in China but doesn't have a non Chinese company brand on it, there's some room for doubt on the quality. If it says Made in Japan, I'd expect to pay more. Even then, there are still quality control issues with Japan branded Chinese manufactured goods (iPhone charger recall. Sony laptop battery problems. Etc.) . Japan didn't use to have that rep back in the day when they were going for a zero defect program on their tech exports ( a long time ago). Can't compete with China's much cheaper labor and manufacturing base. Heck, even the USA can't.
Btw, Taiwanese stuff seems pretty solid too .

Anyone care to add their two cents, two yen, two won, two yuan?

That's a good point about Taiwanese companies, especially HTC who seem to becoming more of a player on the world stage. It's interesting to see them branch away from WM with their Android devices.

[vgamovie]

Hello Super Chimp

I'm sorry because I don't know world wide well.
Nevertheless, Japanese makers (ex. Sharp) will catch up something high-tech within a year if it has meaning for Japan market because Japan is high-tech hell for phone makers.
In Japan, Samsung have never produced high-end cell phone yet.

regards
vgamovie

[vgamovie]

Hello Super Chimp

I should add that I know Samsung does extreme experiment in Korea and I love it
and HD recording is very good feature for mobile phone.
I cannot understand why it does not have 854x480 or over display?
(Basically it should have 1280x768. What a pity!)
854x480 is necessary to be recognized high-end in Japan.
If it have 1280x768, it will be recognized it as a high-end cell phone even in Japan.

regards
vgamovie

[Chillyman]

I would say that the SoftBank 920SC was pretty high-end...

[vgamovie]

Hello Chillyman

I cant help to say with feeling in Japan.
910SH equips 5Mpix CCD and it equips VGA screen and sold out 2006/11/25.
920SC equips QVGA screen and sold out 2008/01/25.

920SC was recognized as a expanded low end machine.

regard
vgamovie

[Chillyman]

Hello Chillyman

I cant help to say with feeling in Japan.
910SH equips 5Mpix CCD and it equips VGA screen and sold out 2006/11/25.
920SC equips QVGA screen and sold out 2008/01/25.

920SC was recognized as a expanded low end machine.

regard
vgamovie

Low-end? Maybe, but it certainly beats whatever phone we get here in North America

[IonNuke]

Low-end? Maybe, but it certainly beats whatever phone we get here in North America

I agree

[edieboy777]

I'd say it's because they aren't so anal about preventing exports since we all know how much keitais are locked down. On the other hand, a lot of people at school bring back unlocked phones from Korea that work no problem. That and the keitai form factor seems a bit huge for some people =\