The Nikkei Sangyoo newspaper is dubbing 1988 the year of the cordless telephone, reporting that the market grew by about 30% in both value and volume to reach over 600,000 units: early last year, phones priced at around $300 led the field, but by the middle of the year were overtaken by low-powered but more expensive models in the $360 to $590 price range; Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp led the market with 30%, but shed four percentage points compared with 1987; Matsushita Communications garnered 20%, Sharp Corp 9.5%, Sony Corp 6%, but all saw falls in their market share as new firms, no fewer than six of them buying phones OEM from Uniden, manufactured in the Philippines, moved into the market.
