Year: <span>2005</span>
Year: 2005

Year: 2005

Trapeze Networks Opens Office in Tokyo

Trapeze Networks, the award winning provider of the wireless LAN (WLAN) Mobility System, today announced the opening of Trapeze Networks KK in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Toshikazu Tamada will drive the company’s new initiatives in Japan. As director of sales, Tamada-san will report to Neil Sundstrom, vice president of worldwide sales. Prior to joining Trapeze, Tamada was the country manager and representative director of Proxim KK. He has also been instrumental in opening Japanese markets for other US-based communications companies including: Avaya, Infosys, Sprint, Lucent Technologies, Comverse Technology and AT&T.

Texas Instruments and DoCoMo JV

Fulfilling a commitment made last year to jointly develop 3G solutions with NTT DoCoMo, Texas Instruments Inc. today announced it has sampled a cost-competitive, multi-mode UMTS chipset developed with NTT DoCoMo to serve the worldwide 3G handset market. Part of TI’s OMAP-Vox architecture, the new OMAPV2230 solution is an integrated UMTS dual-mode digital baseband processor and advanced applications processor based on TI’s high-performance OMAP 2 architecture, TI’s proven GSM/GPRS technology, and NTT DoCoMo’s established WCDMA technology.

KDDI: No Plan to Increase Subsidies

KDDI Corp., the second-biggest cell- phone company in Japan’s $71 billion industry, plans to add new subscribers without having to pay more incentives to retailers like rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Vodafone K.K., “We’ve no plans to pay more subsidies per handset to add users,” President Tadashi Onodera said in a Nov. 25 interview. “We don’t see a need in giving bigger discounts on handsets if our customers are satisfied with our services.” Japanese wireless operators pay commissions to retailers for each handset sold to encourage sales, the phones are sold below manufacturing costs to consumers as carriers make their money from monthly fees.

Index to Form TV Joint Venture

Five private television broadcasters have entered into final negotiations with Index Corp., which distributes content to mobile phone users, on forming a company to distribute sports information to Internet portal sites, according to sources close to the broadcasters. The new company would distribute preliminary reports and images of a wide range of sports including soccer, baseball and basketball to portal sites for access by personal computers and mobile phones, the sources said.

3G Fashion Show Launches i-Channel

3G Fashion Show Launches i-ChannelToday’s WWJ video is full of gorgeous, uhm.. mobiles. This fall, DoCoMo introduced their new 701i models using… models. The 701i-series are stripped down (sans FeliCa) and sexed-up with the carrier’s new ‘i-Channel’ push service for customers too contrarian to even try i-mode. DoCoMo also introduced two hybrid FlashCast enabled designer units; the ‘stylish’ FOMA Dolce from Sharp and the GPS-enabled SA700iS from Sanyo. The Flash lite-based system delivers scrolling news, weather and other information and comes pre configured and already switched on thus showing how easy i-mode really is, according to Mr. i-mode, DoCoMo’s Takeshi Natsuno who took center-stage after the lovely ladies had everyone’s attention.

KDDI Designing Studio Unveils Prototype Handsets

KDDI Designing Studio Unveils Prototype HandsetsThe latest models from KDDI’s au Design Project went on display this month following in the footsteps of past designer models like the InfoBar, the Talby and the Penck. Visiting Harajuku’s ultratrendy Designing Studio showroom last weekend we got a peek into the future with several new mock-ups attracting attention. Celebrating what was billed as “Tokyo Designer’s New Concept Model Week 2005,” the phone company unveiled several previously unseen prototypes, including the Machina [.jpg] and the Hexagon [.jpg], which were displayed under glass at a safe distance from fashionistas and tech journalists alike.

KDDI has hired several designers from outside the traditional OEM supply chain to help them develop innovative new models or what the company calls “communication tools that merge fashion with portability.” Takashi Nikaido, a former Casio team leader who worked on the original G-SHOCK watch design is one of them. His ‘Rotary Design’ (photo right), circa 2001, was on view along with the even more futuristic ‘Wearable’ 3-piece concept [.jpg] which he developed the same year. In 2003, Marc Newson created KDDI/au’s Talby based at least in part on an earlier design model, the InfoBar, designed by Naoto Fukasawa, who also produced the Penck. Ichiro Iwasaki, who spent several years at the Sony Design Center, created the Grappa Slider and Wallet styles and Ichiro Higashiizumi also had his two Apollo concept handsets on show.

NEC to Aquire 100% of Infrontia

NEC Corp. said it would spend about 33.5 billion yen ($282 million) to gain full ownership of phone-making unit NEC Infrontia Corp. in its latest step to pool group resources and eliminate overlap. NEC, Japan’s third-largest electronics conglomerate which already owns 53.3 percent of NEC Infrontia, said on Thursday it would launch a tender offer for the remaining 58.9 million shares at 569 yen each, or an 18 percent premium from Thursday’s closing price.

New 3G Phone Designed Just for Kids

New 3G Phone Designed Just for KidsNTT DoCoMo have just announced a new ‘child-friendly’ 3G mobile phone, the FOMA SA800i made by Sanyo. The SA800i’s functions and compatible services are designed to help keep children safe, according to company PR. It is configured for easy use by children, and its rounded shape resembles a cocoon to emphasize the phone’s child-oriented security features. The handset has an alarm of about 100 decibels that children can quickly switch on in the case of an emergency and parents signed up for the new “imadoco search” location service can set their phones to automatically receive email announcing the child’s physical location, and the emails will continue at regular intervals.

If the child activates the alarm, the handset will call up to three registered numbers with a voice message alert at regular intervals until all registered numbers pick up, or until a password is entered into the child’s handset. In addition, DoCoMo has established the Kids’ Advisory Board of people with expertise in children’s issues, who will advise the company on the development of products and services beneficial to children. The parents who are signed up for imadoco search can also set their phones to receive an automatic email of the child’s location when the child’s handset is turned off. Moreover, even after the child’s handset is switched off, it is possible to receive e-mails of the phone’s whereabouts in 15-, 30- or 60-minute intervals. The emails continue until a password is entered into either the parent’s or child’s handset.

EAccess to Invest $4 bn in 3G

Bloomberg; EAccess Ltd., Japan’s third-largest Internet services provider, plans to invest as much as $4 billion to build a 3G mobile network in Japan, Chief Executive Sachio Semmoto said. “We’re pretty confident we can build a 3G network nationwide,” Semmoto said in an interview at the Idate technology conference in Montpellier, France. The company will invest “at least” $3 to $4 billion in the next two to four years, the executive said.

3G Poised to Take Off in US

Recent consolidation among commercial wireless operators in the U.S. will set the stage for 3G networks to proliferate in the U.S., said Nobuharu Ono, president and CEO of NTT DoCoMo USA, speaking at the Radio Club of America’s annual awards banquet. Ono credited U.S. vendors with wireless innovations such as Wi-Fi and WiMAX, but said “their impact is up for debate.” He also noted that the U.S. trails far behind Japan in the development of 3G networks and services.