Sharp, one of the largest mobile phone manufacturers in Japan, will formally enter the Chinese market with the launch of its first type of high-end mobile phone in China in late June.

Sharp says it will launch the high-end SH9010C mobile phone, which will be priced at about CNY5000 and be released at the same time in Japanese market, in China at the end of June.

In response to the media's inquiry why Sharp chooses to enter China while the other Japanese mobile phone manufacturers like NEC and Panasonic have withdrawn from the country, Mikio Katayama, corporate senior executive director of Sharp, explains that they've made the bold decision based on an in-depth analysis of Chinese market and their great confidence in Sharp's AQUOS LCD television brand. Mikio Katayama says that through about one year's analysis, they've found that there are increasing demand in China for value-added devices.

Sharp has taken the top position in Japanese mobile phone market for three consecutive years. In 2007, Sharp's business scale in China reached CNY74.3 billion, accounting for about one-third of the company's global total.