Key Segment Information

This segment carries on SOFTBANK's original business. Perceiving the arrival of the Internet age at an early date, the segment developed a distribution business for a wide range of IT-related hardware and software products that is one of the largest in Japan. The Internet has transformed products into services and diversified sales channels, leading to intensified competition within the industry. Against this backdrop, core company SOFTBANK BB not only distributes packaged software and hardware IT products, but also provides software and applications as SaaS^*1 and ASP through the Internet.

Providing back-office functions and solutions for e-commerce sites, the SOFTBANK Group is in a unique position as a specialist Internet group that is using its knowledge and experience to expand the scope of its business development. Segment companies other than SOFTBANK BB include Vector Inc., which operates a software download site, Carview Corporation, which distributes automotive-related information, etc., all of which operate sites that are among the largest of their type in Japan. The segment's EBITDA^*2 and operating income both showed large growth during fiscal 2009, rising by 41.8% and 46.8%, respectively, compared to fiscal 2008.

• Vector (Vector Inc.) (Japanese only)
• carview (Carview Corporation) (Japanese only)

Please refer to the link below for more details.

• Review of e-Commerce Segment Operations

• Back to Index

Fundamental Strategy

The segment's fundamental strategy is to provide advanced IT products and services, and to achieve continuous growth by pursuing tie-ins with the SOFTBANK Group's telecommunications infrastructure to utilize the strengths of the SOFTBANK Group. This involves two key concepts—the “fusion of IT and telecommunications” and “transforming IT into services.”

Market Demand and SOFTBANK BB's Strategic Response

The “fusion of IT and telecommunications” seeks to create an environment for current IT products and services that is not separate from respective telecommunications networks, and steady progress toward that fusion is being made every day. Therefore, in addition to the traditional IT sector, this gives rise to higher expectations for increased business opportunities with proposals that tie into telecommunications infrastructure platforms. In particular, with the recent growth in telecommunications volume, data centers and companies are looking for efficient, stable operations for servers and storage, and attention is on solutions for backup and virtual servers.

“Transforming IT into services” envisions rapid advances in the telecommunications infrastructure environment to offer software, content, hardware, and telecommunications infrastructure as services, as seen in SaaS and cloud computing.

The full realization of the “fusion of IT and telecommunications” and “transforming IT into services” will have major benefits for distributors. The “fusion of IT and telecommunications” will lead directly to sales growth with a broader product lineup and increased volumes, and “transforming IT into services” will lead to higher profitability and management stability through the expansion of ongoing, continuous businesses. Nevertheless, the benefits of the “fusion of IT and telecommunications” and “transforming IT into services” cannot be realized unless a company has sufficient management resources to address them. In this regard, its wide range of businesses from infrastructure to portals, search, content and services, and its deep knowledge of the Internet, will work to the SOFTBANK Group's advantage.

• IT Distribution, Commerce & Service (SOFTBANK BB Corp.) (Japanese only)

Specific Actions and Successes Based on This Fundamental Strategy

Expanding the Telecommunications Infrastructure Business

Trend in Retail Software Users

With the aim of becoming the No.1 provider of solutions like the virtualization of servers and applications to meet needs arising from the growth of telecommunications volume, the segment has been building up its technology and marketing structure for the past two years, and fiscal 2009 sales tripled in comparison to fiscal 2008. The aggressive promotion of SoftBank SELECTION brand Bluetooth® devices and iPhone 3G accessories also contributed to sales growth. In addition, with growth in the number of SoftBank mobile phone handsets sold to companies, progress is also being made in proposing solutions using groupware and mobile phone applications.

• SoftBank SELECTION Mobile Phone Accessories
  (SOFTBANK BB Corp.) (Japanese only)
• SoftBank SELECTION PC Software
  (SOFTBANK BB Corp.) (Japanese only)

Accelerating Ongoing, Continuous Value-added Businesses

The segment is placing particular importance on accelerating the development of SaaS and ASP services. Because these services provide software on a pay-for-use basis, this is an ongoing, continuous business that enhances management stability. The aggregate number of users of software services for individuals provided by BB Softservice Corp. has surpassed 850,000 and continues to show steady growth. The TEKI-PAKI corporate SaaS/ASP service provided by SOFTBANK BB saw a doubling in the number of users during fiscal 2009.

• BB Soft (BB Softservice Corp.) (Japanese only)
• TEKI-PAKI (SOFTBANK BB Corp.) (Japanese only)