DoCoMo--Japan's Wireless Tsunami: How One Mobile Telecom Created a New Market and Became a Global Force PDF
Preview DoCoMo--Japan's Wireless Tsunami: How One Mobile Telecom Created a New Market and Became a Global Force
DoCoMo JAPAN’S WIRELESS TSUNAMI This Page Intentionally Left Blank This Page Intentionally Left Blank DoCoMo JAPAN’S WIRELESS TSUNAMI How One Mobile Telecom Created a New Market and Became a Global Force JOHN BECK AND MITCHELL WADE American Management Association New York •Atlanta •Brussels •Buenos Aires •Chicago •London •Mexico City San Francisco •Shanghai •Tokyo •Toronto •Washington, D. C. Special discounts on bulk quantities of AMACOM books are available to cor- porations, professional associations, and other organizations. For details, con- tact Special Sales Department, AMACOM, a division of American Manage- ment Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Tel.: 212-903-8316 Fax: 212-903-8083 Web site: www.amacombooks.org This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the pub- lisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent profes- sional person should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beck, John C. DoCoMo : Japan’s wireless tsunami / John C. Beck and Mitchell E. Wade. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8144-0753-6 1. DoCoMo—History. 2. Cellular telephone services industry—Japan—History. I. Wade, Mitchell E. II. Title. HE9715.J3 B435 2002 384.3’06’552—dc21 2002008312 © 2003 John Beck and Mitchell Wade All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of AMACOM, a division of American Management Association, 1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Printing number 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For Roger —JB For my parents —MW This Page Intentionally Left Blank This Page Intentionally Left Blank C O N T E N T S Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Chapter One: Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Chapter Two: Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Chapter Three: Impatience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Chapter Four: Luck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Chapter Five: Fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Chapter Six: Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Appendix A: Intimacy and M-Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 Appendix B: Interview with Kouji Ohboshi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 vii This Page Intentionally Left Blank This Page Intentionally Left Blank I N T R O D U C T I O N We have a confession to make: This isn’t the book we thought we were going to write. And if you’re looking for a safe, detailed history of an exceptional company, this isn’t it. Let us explain. NTT DoCoMo is a truly exceptional company. Largely unknown outside Japan, it has created more wealth in recent years than almost any other company in the world.(The Stern Stewart Wealth Added Index [WAI] compares share-price increases and divi- dends to the cost of equity for 5069 firms worldwide, from June 1996 to June 2001. DoCoMo is the only Asian firm in the WAI top ten, and one of only three from outside the United States.) Originally spun off from a hidebound bureaucracy, DoCoMo was the kind of startup that might simply have faded away. Instead, it has become a true global superpower. It hasover 30 million paying Inter- net customers—as many as America Online—but got there five times faster. Its technology is a full generation ahead of anything in the United States or Europe. And it is rapidly acquiring stakes in every major global market. Insiders believe this Japanese powerhouse could dominate the new economy, just as Sony and Toyota have dominated the old one. So the elements are there for the book you might expect: a classic (if conventional) high-tech success story. What’s more, this is clearly a success story that matters, truly, to the entire industrialized world. For some time now, just about every telecom you can think of has been investing and positioning and preparing for the Big Mobile Commerce Boom. And many other businesses have been watching closely, because ix
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