Japan provides some fascinating pointers as to how tech-savvy mobile operators are trying to contend with the growing strategic importance of handset operating systems that lie beyond their control. In Japan, this shift in the balance of power is an entirely new phenomena – Japan’s mobile operators have traditionally controlled handset development, setting out detailed specifications for both software and hardware.

But now NTT DOCOMO and KDDI, the largest and second largest of Japan’s mobile operators, are having to respond to the belated, but fast-growing, local demand for smartphones running global operating systems capable of tapping into the burgeoning international apps market. SoftBank, the third largest mobile operator, has used Apple’s iPhone to attract wealthy new customers and put the top two under some pressure.

Interestingly, DOCOMO and KDDI’s responses are quite different. Whereas DOCOMO, which has long prided itself on its technological expertise, is taking a highly interventionist approach, KDDI is employing a much lighter touch.

DOCOMO announced this week that it has teamed up with Renesas Electronics, Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. and Sharp to jointly develop “a new application platform for mobile phones that will be compatible with both the Symbian and Linux operating systems” with the aim of boosting processing speeds for high-quality video and 3D graphics. Clearly, DOCOMO believes the existing Symbian and Linux ecosystems won’t deliver advanced enough multimedia capabilities for the demanding Japanese market.

Can DOCOMO have its cake and eat it?

At face value, this looks like an attempt by DOCOMO to both capitalize on the economies of scale inherent in global smartphones platforms and still maintain a technological edge over its competitors. In other words, DOCOMO is trying to have its cake and eat it, which is always a difficult thing to do.

But DOCOMO may have the scale to pull it off, especially if it accommodates Android. (Mysteriously, given that Android is a Linux-based system, DOCOMO and its partners said they haven’t yet decided whether the new platform will be compatible with Android). If developers can turbo-charge existing Android and Symbian apps for the new platform without too much hassle, they will almost certainly do so to target the Japanese operator’s 56 million, mostly affluent, customers.

KDDI, meanwhile, seems to be more concerned with helping its customers find and pay for useful Android apps. During its annual results presentation last week, KDDI discussed a number of modest practical measures to lubricate the mobile apps market in Japan. The operator will check the security of Android apps before selling them through its own app store using its own billing system, while setting up its own recommendation engines to help customers find apps that are relevant to them. It will also encourage Android developers to create more Japanese-language apps. That amounts to a far less ambitious, but possibly more prudent strategy, than that of DOCOMO.

So, which mobile operator has got it right? Given Japanese consumers’ penchant for advanced technology and the need for differentiation in a fast commoditizing market, DOCOMO is probably right to try and push the technological envelope. But, if it ignores Android, which now has worldwide momentum, it could find it hard to convince enough developers to back its new platform.