Japanese mobile phone manufacturer Sharp is to start selling handsets in China – the world’s largest mobile market – ahead of the Beijing Olympics this year. “There is a growing number of consumers in China who want to buy high-tech handsets, such as those equipped with cameras almost as good as digital cameras, even if they are expensive,” a Mobile Marketing News report cites Sharp spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama as stating. “People want a nice screen especially for the Olympics.”

Japanese handset vendors have had limited success abroad to date, battling to compete with the economies of scale enjoyed by the likes of Nokia and Samsung. Kyocera was previously the only Japanese firm in the Chinese mobile market, but was forced to pull out last week due to disappointing results. Sony, via its joint venture with Ericsson, is one of the few Japanese companies to have been successful in selling mobile phones abroad.