KDDi Keitai Price Cuts Fuel Deflation Worries

[Mulboyne]

AFP: Japanese mobile price cuts spark jitters about deflation
Japan's number two mobile telephone operator KDDI on Thursday announced deep cuts to call charges that analysts said could hinder Asia's largest economy's exit from deflation if rivals follow suit. KDDI Corp. said it would introduce a new charging system in which call charges will decline by about 20 to 30 percent, while the prices of handsets will increase. Industry leader NTT DoCoMo Inc. is also considering introducing a similar pricing system following a government recommendation to make billing systems more simple..."If the new plan is incorporated, it would have an impact of pushing down the core CPI by up to about 0.4 percentage points," said Noriaki Haseyama, an economist at the Daiichi Life Research Institute. "If that's the case, it may delay the timing of the CPI picking up," he said, adding that the impact would last for about a year...more...

[kurohinge1]

. . . Japan's number two mobile telephone operator KDDI . . .

Forget Y2K, KDDI now has the [SIZE="5"]W42K Baku-Denwa![/SIZE]

Japan's second largest cellular operator KDDI Corp is recalling about 214,000 mobile phones that may overheat and blow up, after several people were injured.

KDDI, known for its "au" brand, will replace battery packs of its W42K model, marketed only in Japan, a company spokesman said.

The firm received 13 complaints from users of the cellphone made by Kyocera Corp about the trouble. Three of them suffered slight burns, the spokesman said.

The problem lies in the battery packs, which may short-circuit, generate smoke and blow up if their surface is damaged, he said.