Beckham kicks off MOTORAZR in Japan

David Beckham joined Motorola in Tokyo Friday to formally kick off sales of the  MOTORAZR (M702iS) handset with DoCoMo in Japan. Sporting the hot new device, the football icon popped up at ersatz appearances around Tokyo, with Japan‘s most stylish mobile device, MOTORAZR.

Appearing with leading Japanese sportscaster Tomoaki Ogura on Best Moments in Sports 2006, Fuji-TV’s highly rated year end sports program, Beckham showed the MOTORAZR in each of its three colors. The soccer icon also unveiled a one-of-a-kind customized “MOTORAZR tattoo keitei by David Beckham” that will be auctioned online (http://sa.item.rakuten.co.jp/rakuoku/a/061229_moto_a/ or other mobile phones at http://sa.item.m.rakuten.co.jp/rakuoku/a/061229_moto_a/) to raise money for UNICEF, in honor of Beckham’s role as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Beckham then hosted a fashion show at the popular Roppongi Hills Arena, cutting through the backdrop with his MOTORAZR, introducing the device to the several thousand people assembled at the event with the help of J-Wave personality Sean K, and demonstrating why this is the “must-have” DoCoMo handset. The program, which began with traditional Taiko drums, continued with Beckham treating the crowd to a free-kick demonstration onstage and climaxed with Beckham drawing the name of a random MOTORAZR owner in the crowd, calling the winner on her MOTORAZR, and bringing her onstage for a photo and gifts. Beckham concluded the event by kicking specially-branded black and silver MOTORAZR balls into a mosh-pit at center-stage filled with MOTORAZR owners.

MOTORAZR, available in Japan for only two weeks, is already the hottest selling mobile device in Japan, with the Hot pink, Neo black, and Cool silver handsets all topping the sales of DoCoMo’s popular 7 series. Beckham finished the day with a spontaneous stop at a Motorola “touch-and-try” event in Shibuya, one of the world’s busiest and hippest shopping areas.

“One of the great things about my job is that I get to travel all around the world, and wherever I go, you can be sure of one thing — the people who are really stylish carry a MOTORAZR,” Beckham told the crowd.