Battle over 3G Phone Services Intensifies

Satoshi Nagao, executive managing officer of KDDI, said: “We are already in an era of one mobile phone per person, so the market itself is saturated. To make the company grow in such a situation we have to increase our share of the market, by making other companies’ customers shift to us.”

For its next step, KDDI will launch the CDMA2000 1xEV-DO service - evolved from the CDMA2000 1x - this year, possibly as early as autumn. The company plans to separate voice transmission to 1x and data transmission to EV-DO. “The EV-DO platform … can provide a five-minute-long video easily, as opposed to the current CDMA2000 1x that allows only 15 seconds,” he said. Motoharu Sone, telecom analyst at UFJ Tsubasa Research Institute, said KDDI’s dominant position in the 3G race was unlikely to be challenged over the next few years. “It will be interesting to see whether NTT DoCoMo can catch up with KDDI. With handsets to be released in autumn that will be equal to PDC handsets in terms of coverage, weight and battery life, DoCoMo and J-Phone will start a full-scale counterattack. However, I don’t think either of them can overwhelm KDDI within a few years,” he said. CONTINUE

COMMENTS: This news item is a great wrap-up and review of the status of 3G in Japan. The Yomiuri Shimbun yesterday said that DoCoMo’s three new FOMA 3G handsets - the N2051, the F2051, and the P2102V - have received a “good reception even though all of them were released later than scheduled.” Panasonic’s P2102V videophone handset - which went on sale last weekend - is particularly striking and features a rotatable display. Now we’ll see how they sell.

Quick Specs:
N2051: 310,000-pixel CMOS main cam; 2.21-in., 65,536-color TFT display
F2051: 270-deg swivel 100,000-pixel CCD cam; 2.2-in., 65,536-color TFT display; onboard photo editing
P2102V: 310,000-pixel CMOS main cam; 2.35-in. 262,144-color TFT display; SD memory card
More here.

Quick Prices:
N2051: Bic Camera (Shibuya east exit): 28,800 yen, Shinjuku West exit: 28,800 yen
F2051: Bic Camera (Shibuya east exit): 19,800 yen, Shinjuku West exit: 19,800 yen