Archive for January, 2009

Spring Comes Early at KDDI

KDDI has announced 10 new models for their Spring 2009 line-up. It’s a promising looking collection with a most notable model by Hitachi, the WOOO touting world firsts for the 3D viewing function, that looks very cool in person, and 3.3 inch VGA organic EL display. More details after the jump >>



  

Posted: 30 January 2009 | Filed under: Japan Market, Terminal Technology | ..Continue >> 

Mobilkom Testing NFC Platform

Austrian-based Mobilkom announced they have developed a chip-based NFC system using the VDV-KA international standard for mobile ticketing in conjunction with the Austrian Federal Railways group OBB. In partnership with Nokia, the OBB has launched a pilot project involving 100 test customers and 100 ticket collectors on the test routes Vienna-Krems and Vienna-Gmund, using the NFC-capable 6212 classic handset for a three month trial period.

Posted: 27 January 2009 | Filed under: European Market, New Tech & Services | ..Continue >> 

LG Telecom Rolls Hitachi Model

LG Telecom has announced the canu s1000 handset will go on sale in Korea for about 500,000 won. The unit is made by Hitachi and based on the W53H design, a dual-swing clamshell with QVGA organic EL display . It will run on the same EVDO rev. A network, synch with the operators OZ content portal and run DMB instead of 1Seg for digital TV. LGT reportedly had good results from their earlier experiment with the canU 801Ex handset which was provided by Casio based on the W53CA Exilim model that was released by AU in spring 2007.

Posted: 23 January 2009 | Filed under: Asia Pacific Market, Terminal Technology | ..Continue >> 

Vertu Flag-Ship Store Opens on Ginza

As announced late last year, the premium Nokia brand has opened it’s doors in Tokyo. The Vertu Japan flagship store, naturally located in Ginza, is a three story affair with main floor devoted to display of the three models available - Signature, Ascent and Ferrari - while the second floor offers a private lounge and level three caters to customer service. As the news is not yet listed on the companies main site, see the photos with more details in Japanese Here. Apparently the actual handsets will be available on the dori sometime in Q2 2009.

Posted: 21 January 2009 | Filed under: Editor's Note, New Tech & Services | ..Continue >> 

DoCoMo and Fujitsu Export F905i to Taiwan

DoCoMo and Fujitsu announced that they have localized a mobile phone, based on the F905i model sold in Japan, targeting sales into the Taiwanese market. The new handset was officially launched by Far EasTone Telecomm, in which DoCoMo has an equity stake and is the exclusive provider of i-mode in Taiwan, this week.

The F905i offers advanced features such as 3.2-inch full-wide VGA two-position display, 3.2-megapixel camera and Fujitsu’s proprietary technologies for exceptionally clear sound and voice reproduction at 30% slower speed for easy comprehension.

It’s the first unit co-developed by DoCoMo and Fujitsu for export and allows users to view and input text using traditional Chinese character set, enabling access to FET’s i-mode service in the local language [PDF]. We expect to see increased activity in this respect considering the challenge that device makers are facing in Japan.

Posted: 17 January 2009 | Filed under: Asia Pacific Market, Terminal Technology | ..Continue >> 

Japan Telecom Hardware Sales Dropping

The Communications and Information Network Association of Japan - CIAJ - has released a report on mid-term demand for telecom equipment with a gloomy, though predictable, forcast. While exports have been holding YoY results, domestic sales are expected to slip about 14 percent in fiscal 2008. According to their research, confirming widely held industry views, the rapid drop in demand for handsets resulting from the newly implemented sales plan, which raised handset prices has produced this so-called negative growth effect.

Posted: 15 January 2009 | Filed under: Japan Market, Sign of the Times | ..Continue >> 

Majority of 911 Calls Via Mobile

According to this article on the Mainichi Shimbun, National Police Agency figures released for 2008 show that over 63 percent of calls for emergency services in Japan come from mobile phones. Results showed that a total of 5,165,795 calls were made from mobile phones, up 1.5 percent from the same period the previous year and the biggest year-on-year increase for the period.

In order to trace the source of mobile phone calls, which are harder to track than land line calls, police in 21 prefectures, including the Metropolitan Police Department, have introduced location data reporting systems, with police in 10 other prefectures, including Aomori, planning to buy similar systems by the end of June this year.

Posted: 10 January 2009 | Filed under: Japan Market, Mobile Users | ..Continue >> 

e-Photo Frame for Cellphones

According to local media reports DoCoMo will market a dedicated e-photo frame, with it’s own email address, by spring this year. Apparently the LCD screen of the prototype developed in-house, sorry we could not find an image, is slightly larger than a postcard. The unit can store up to 1,000 photos, has a slide-show function while voice messages and video images also can be sent to the frame from a mobile phone. The estimated retail price is 20,000jpy or about $220usd.

Posted: 6 January 2009 | Filed under: New Tech & Services, Sign of the Times | ..Continue >>