PHS--dying in Japan, blooming in China

A snapshot of what a huge consumer market China is becoming--subscribers to PHS (Personal Handyphone System, a short-range cellphone technology) services doubled to 37 million in 2003, and are projected to reach 60 million in 2004. The service is now available in 355 cities in 31 provinces.

It's interesting to contrast this with Japan, where PHS looks to be on its last legs. Pretty much the only provider still keeping its service alive is KDDI subsidiary DDI Pocket, most of whose subscribers are using the cards for data because they offer cheap, fixed-rate data at up to 256kbps. 2G and 3G phones have proved the overwhelming favourite with consumers, mostly because they got an unassailable grip on the handset manufacturers and gained a monopoly on innovations--email, web browsing, colour screens, cameras. We imagine that the popularity of PHS in China probably stems from cost appeal, but it'll be interesting to see what happens on the handset front if manufacturers can shift phones in the millions, instead of in the thousands as in Japan.

[Via Nikkei BP (Japanese)]