DoCoMo Is Back, Leading Japan's Cellphone Market
It really wasn’t that long ago when DoCoMo was the standard everyone looked to when it came to offering wireless data over mobile phones. The praise that went in their direction seemed to go to their head, leading to ill-advised international expansion plans, and a poorly thought out 3G launch in Japan. Now, the NY Times is claiming that, depsite all their recent troubles, DoCoMo is back. They’ve written off the international investments, released some new products, and are completing work on their latest network. They’ve apparently jumped back into the leader position in Japan, and have the most coveted phones again (something they lost to the competition with their expensive 3G offerings). Their new phones have caused poeple to line up outside of stores, and it appears their financial situation is looking better every day. Of course, the one thing this story demonstrates is that “leadership” in the wireless world can be a very short-lived phenomenon. Keeping that in mind, and not letting some early praise go to your head is important if a company plans on keeping the lead.
