Samsung wants piece of Japan’s phone pie

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s third-biggest mobile phone maker, is in talks to supply high-speed mobile phones to Vodafone Group Plc’s Japanese unit, entering the nation’s $3.9 billion handset market for the first time. Samsung, based in Seoul, plans to sell phones to Vodafone K.K., Japan’s smallest wireless operator behind NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp., by next summer, according to company officials involved with the talks. The Korean company lost global market share last quarter to Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc., which have agreements to supply handsets to DoCoMo. Vodafone may get access to Samsung’s top handsets, including the world’s slimmest model and a phone equipped with a hard drive that can store up to 750 songs. “Japan is a key market in the sense that Samsung has no presence there while it has a great global name,’’ said Jae Lee, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Seoul. “Japanese consumers tend to go for the sophisticated models, and I bet Samsung is looking to offer something that’s equipped with the latest technologies.’’ Sophia Kim, a Samsung spokeswoman, and Vodafone’s Tokyo-based spokesman Matthew Nicholson declined to comment. Newbury, Britain-based Vodafone Group already buys Samsung phones for markets outside of Japan. Japanese operators and handset makers said they are expecting more competition when subscribers will be allowed to switch carriers while keeping the same numbers from next year.