The Japanese wireless industry, and in particular the handset makers active in the domestic Japanese market, are caught between a rock and a hard place. Japan is arguably the most advanced market in the world for technologically sophisticated handsets and wireless services, and, since the 1990s, the Japanese handset makers have driven enormous innovation in the development of leading-edge products. Ironically, however, over the last decade the market position of the major Japanese handset makers outside Japan has declined. They have lost their cost competitiveness, failed to establish effective brands at the global level, and stumbled in their efforts to create effective distribution channels.

This Portelligent Tech Perspective reviews the reasons why Japanese handset makers find themselves in this dilemma, and summarizes how the handset makers themselves and the wireless carriers are responding in Japan.