The top two distribution companies in Japan, Aeon Group and the Seven & i Group, are struggling to maintain growth.  Seven & i, owners of the 7-11 convenience store chain, saw its group net profit for fiscal year ended Feb. 28 fall to Yen 45 billion (US$ 481 m) from Yen 92 billion in the prior term.   The declines at Seven & i were also exacerbated by its department store units Sogo and Seibu, and by its Ito-Yokado supermarkets slipping profits.  Concerns over income and employment uncertainties made consumers hold back on spending across the board. 

The other distribution giant Aeon Group saw consolidated fiscal year sales decline to Y5.05 trillion (US$54 billion) due to fierce price competition among retailers hungry for reluctant consumer attention. In response the Aeon will expand its offerings of lower-priced popular items such as bicycles and pet goods.

Sharp and  Microsoft announced they will  develop a new smartphone called "KIN". The new model will come in a 2.6 inch "KIN one" version and 3.4 inch "KIN two" model. It is expected to be priced at less expensive than the majority of comparable smartphones on the market. Sharp's venture with Microsoft follows a strategy to gain customers familiar with the latest mobile technology. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association reports that smartphones are becoming increasingly popular in Japan,  taking market share previously held by conventional Japanese handsets.

Among Japanese  Sharp is associated with high-quality mobile phone displays  under its  "Aquos" brand displays.   It also just announced that it will  manufacture mobile-sized displays able to produce 3D effects  without using special glasses. This technology is expected to form the basis  for Nintendo's next generation handheld game console, the 3DS.

According to a reports in the April 14 edition of the Nikkei Shimbun  and other sources Japanese firms are enthusiastically adopting cloud computing.  For instance, Sonpo Japan, the large insurance firm, introduced a massive cloud computing customer data management system for its 37,000 plus agents and employees; meanwhile  Panasonic is planning a company-wide cloud-base computing system for its 28,000 employees. Lower IT costs and better security are big attractions for these all out adoptions of this new form of computing.

Cloud computing networks using shared over the network technology allows companies to use computing power without having to own the systems. Thus, Sonpo Japan need only pay its  cloud supplier, Salesforce.com, for the services it uses. Developing and maintaining its own system had cost Sonpo seven time more than the several billion yen it now pays per year.  Troubled insurance customers, calls for help and accident claims require that  Sonpo's system manage  10 million customer information calls which the new cloud system facilitates.   The new system allows managing all this as the data is collected from regional agencies and staff.

Panasonic is moving toward cloud computing using IBM's cloud system.  A mix of email and electronic bulletin boards systems used by Panasonic's 28,000 workers in  units around the world are being unified into one company-wide system.

IDC Japan, the IT market research and publishing firm, estimates that corporate cloud computing expenditures in Japan will come to Y1.4 trillion by 2014, a growth of 4.6 times that of the 2009 level.  ++++