Sharp has become the leading mobile phone maker in the Japanese market for the first time, according to data from MM Research Institute. It beat industry heavyweights NEC and Matsushita to take the top slot in the highly fragmented and saturated market, in which there are more than 10 competitors. Matsushita was second while NEC was third. Sharp was the supplier to the market’s smallest participant, J-Phone, which subsequently became Vodafone until it won a contract to supply to NTT DoCoMo. It offers advanced features, such as high quality LCD screens and easy-touse cameraphones. Sharp will also start supplying to KDDI, Japan’s second largest mobile phone operator, later in 2006.
