According to this press release by KDDI, EZ Gree passed the 1 Million members mark this month. Originally launched in November last year, and hitting 500k users in March, the social networking site plans to integrate more carrier led mobile data offerings, notably location based services, going forward. That will be interesting.. 😎
IDC released a report earlier this month which identified InnoPath as the strongest MDM (Mobile Device Management) vendor in its ability to gain market share and alignment with market opportunities. Of the top eleven MDM providers, InnoPath was favorably positioned with its ability to leverage market trends, its growth potential, as well as its ability to gain market share.
Bandai Networks has announced a new mobile phone service that allows cameraphone users to take a photo of a CD cover or poster and search for the information about that artist or band. Users can then click the link in the returned content to easily access a mobile site containing detailed product info. and (hopefully) purchase related products directly from their phone. Those sneaky capitalists!
Nepro Japan recently conducted this survey focused on Japanese cell phone users new handset upgrade feature priorities. The questionnaire returned 3,817 valid responses and indicated demographics show 56% of the sample was female, 3% in their teens, 35% in their twenties, 43% in their thirties, and 19% aged forty or older. Some rather interesting results after the jump.
AP is reporting, via Yahoo, that NEC Corp. said Tuesday its profit in the April-June period more than tripled, helped by turnaround efforts in its overseas mobile phone operations. Profit at the Tokyo-based electronics manufacturer totalled 973 million yen (US$8.2 million) for the three months ended June 30, up dramatically from 261 million yen the same period the previous year.
Viacom Japan will re-launch their mobile music channel as a social networking service, myMTV, which will offer members their own profile pages along video uploading and sharing functions. The service is ad-supported and free to consumers and will be available on all three of Japan’s mobile operators when it rolls-out in September. According to comments from executives on-hand at the Tokyo press conference, this effort will serve as a model for future deployment in other markets.
According to Infinita, Media Groove Inc. will beta launch a new mobile SNS service on September 15. Chipuya Town is a Flash-based 2D version of real-world Tokyo youth hotspot Shibuya that users will be able to navigate around and interact in with avatars. The offering also features a virtual currency system which can be redeemed for avatar clothing as well as interior goods for avatar rooms, and according to the press release for mobile content such as full track music downloads, too.
According to the organisers of TGS, as of today the projected participation for their upcoming annual event is 168 exhibitors occupying 1,708 booths which would make it even larger in scale than the largest past show (148 exhibitors, 1,701 booths, in 2006). This may be due to the fact that this year marks the introduction of software titles for the new game platforms released over the past 1-2 years.
KDDI has announced it’s plan to offer a bundled e-mail service, available on both PC and mobile, powered by Googles Gmail platform. The free service, branded “AU One Mail”, is available only to the companies CDMA 1X WIN customers and will provide up to 2GB of storage when it debuts in late September. KDDI introduced the Google search feature for its EZWeb mobile web service in July ’06.
According to the Nikkei, via Reuters, Sanyo Electric will unload its handset sales unit in a deal that could be worth up to 10 billion yen ($85 million). Telecom Sanyo operates 60 retail stores in Japan and serves as a sales agent for DoCoMo and other mobile operators. It offers handsets made by Sanyo as well as other mobile phone producers, the newspaper said.
