Mobile carriers focus on smart phones

Japanese mobile carriers have stepped up efforts to promote multi-functional smart phones such as the iPhone and BlackBerry, hoping to stimulate demand among business people.
Smart phones can make business easier as users can send and receive emails, view attached files and create documents. Operability has improved with addition of large-sized keys and touch panels.
The carriers’ efforts could fuel demand and energize Japan’s almost saturated mobile phone market, industry watchers said.
Since March, NTT DoCoMo Inc has launched two models, its first smart phone roll-out for about two years.
In August, the company started offering BlackBerrys, which had been previously available only to corporate customers, to individuals.
The company believes that many business people hope to use such mobile devices casually when working outside their offices or after returning home, an NTT DoCoMo official said.
Softbank Corp and EMobile Ltd, a mobile unit of broadband service provider EAccess Ltd, have expanded their lineups by releasing two models each this year.
KDDI Corp is poised to launch its first smart phone by the end of this year.
KDDI is now considering what products can meet user needs, the company’s president, Tadashi Onodera, said.
Higher transmission speeds and improved compatibility with personal computers have allowed the use of smart phones in the business environment, said Shigehiro Tanaka, an analyst at research firm BCN Inc.
More models are likely to be released and the market is expected to expand, Tanaka said.