Mobile carriers focus on smart phones

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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.

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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.

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The carriers’ efforts could fuel demand and energize Japan’s almost saturated mobile phone market, industry watchers said.

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Since March, NTT DoCoMo Inc has launched two models, its first smart phone roll-out for about two years.

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In August, the company started offering BlackBerrys, which had been previously available only to corporate customers, to individuals.

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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.

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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.

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KDDI Corp is poised to launch its first smart phone by the end of this year.

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KDDI is now considering what products can meet user needs, the company’s president, Tadashi Onodera, said.

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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.

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More models are likely to be released and the market is expected to expand, Tanaka said.

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