ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that it is partnering with KYOCERA Corporation (headquartered in Kyoto-shi, Kyoto; Hideo Tanimoto, President and Representative Director; hereinafter "Kyocera") in the business of the sale, rental and buy-back/trade-in of mobile devices for corporate customers through Belong Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Daisuke Inoue, President; hereinafter "Belong"), a wholly owned subsidiary of ITOCHU (including indirect ownership) distributing used mobile devices.

The interest in the use of smartphones and tablets is growing in many different situations in the era of the new normal created by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes, for instance, the increasingly common practice of telecommuting and online learning and the increase in the number of in-store POS terminals, monitors in taxies and gig workers. Regarding the use of these devices, especially in stores such as restaurants and also in factories and logistics facilities for the promotion of smart factories, demand from corporate customers for devices with attributes such as durability and battery life that makes them suitable for long-term use is increasing.
Meanwhile, the demand from corporate customers for devices is centered on limited applications such as telephones, messaging and teleconferencing.*1 Our economic environment is changing, as indicated by the weaker yen, price increases and the growing need for the stable supply of merchandise and other factors. As a result, mobile devices that are made in Japan are drawing attention again.

Via Belong, ITOCHU sells smartphones and tablets from Kyocera characterized by features such as their excellent durability and long battery life to corporate customers. In addition, new Kyocera devices will be made available on a subscription basis utilizing the expertise in the lease and rental business accumulated through the provision of the Belong One, a used mobile device rental service that started last year. In addition to its conventional operations focused on used mobile devices, Belong will start to deal in new mobile devices to meet the diverse demand generated by corporate customers.

ITOCHU will also start working with Kyocera in Belong Kaitori for Biz, a service provided by Belong for the purchase of corporate-use devices.
Kyocera Mobile Support, a service provided by Kyocera supporting the introduction and use of corporate-use devices, combined with Belong's ability to purchase a broad range of used mobile devices enables the improvement of services peripheral to corporate-use communication devices. The purchased devices are redistributed fully leveraging ITOCHU's domestic and international sales networks.
Through the distribution of mobile devices, ITOCHU will continue to expand services and provide meticulous support from the customer's perspective, with the aim of helping develop a sustainable society through the effective use of limited resources.

  • *1Based on a customer survey conducted by Belong

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Itochu Corporation published this content on 07 October 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 25 October 2022 04:52:03 UTC.