Handset shipments in Japan drop nearly 30% in fiscal 2008, says MM Research Institute

Domestic mobile phone shipments in the Japan market dropped by an annualized rate of 29.3% to 35.89 million units in fiscal 2008 (April 2008-March 2009), according to data released by Japan-based market research firm MultiMedia (MM) Research Institute.

The shipment volume for 2008 was the lowest level in the past nine years since MM Research Institute began to track the annual sales records in fiscal 2000, and also was the first time that the annual shipments fell below the 40 million-unit-mark, said the research firm.