Archive for the 'Editor's Note' Category
Mobile World Congress 2010 Report
Despite an unusual chill in the air, it was snowing when we landed on Saturday night, the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is wrapping up here today with plenty of hot news bits. The 2010 event will most likely be remembered for the “Arrival of Android” and the keynote from Eric Schmidt was a refreshing shift from the usual ‘dumb pipe’ belly button gazing offered by the operators. Watch the full presentation, including a few interesting demos followed by Q&A, via YouTube.
Of course the entire cycle towards LTE networks was key topic on the show floor, the Samsung Wave was certainly turning heads, Intel and Nokia introduced MeeGo and plenty of worthy press going around the debut of Windows 7 series - Video Here. Props to Microsoft for making what appears to be a quantum leap with WiMo, better late than never, and too their PR folks for freezing the clock on Plaza Catalunya Hotel at 7 for the whole week.. interesting times ahead to be sure!
KDDI Invests in American MVNOs
KDDI America has entered into separate agreements with American MVNOs (Note (1)) Locus Telecommunications, Inc. (Hereinafter referred to as “Locus.”) on January 19th, 2010, and Total Call International, Inc. (Hereinafter referred to as Total Call) on January 21st, 2010 to invest in the respective companies.
In accordance to the above mentioned agreement, KDDI America, Inc. will acquire a combined total of USD 41M (JPY 3.7B) of issued shares corresponding to 51% of the number of shares issued by the respective companies, and plans to make them as consolidated subsidiaries (Note 3). Through the aforementioned pair of investments, KDDI and the KDDI Group plan to enter the mobile service segment offering services to migrants residing in the U.S.—a promising growth market—to further expand the companies’ global business base.
DoCoMo to Demo LTE handset at MWC
According to this PC World report, DoCoMo plans to demonstrate a prototype handset running LTE technology at this month’s Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona. The demonstration at Barcelona will be running on a prototype LTE chip developed by the four companies, said NEC. The chip was first demonstrated in October in concept data cards, and its appearance at Barcelona will be the first time it’s appeared in a handset.
DoCoMo Pacific Enables Haiti Donations
In an effort to assist victims of the recent devastating earthquake in Haiti, Docomo Pacific is announcing that its customers will be able to donate funds by texting to 42484 (HAITI) on their Docomo Pacific phones. This fundraising program will run from Jan. 19 through Feb. 15 for both prepaid and postpaid Docomo Pacific customers.
Seasons Greetings 2009
Wow.. seems yet another year just flew bye so we wanted to take a quick moment - with a warm rum and eggnog at hand - to pass along our very best wishes to all this holiday season.
Looking back over the year, it’s been one of the most exciting periods to date with increased global awareness and adoption following the same basic path as we’ve seen in Japan.
Leaping forward into 2010, year of the Tiger, we expect to see continued explosive growth in the mobile industry and, of course, plenty of interesting stories to follow along the way.
It’s been a hectic schedule for everyone so we do hope you take a well-deserved chance to relax and re-charge. As usual we have a few cool projects cooking here - so stay tuned - meanwhile, you gotta see our latest edition of The Mob Rulz!
Google Starts Promoting QR Codes
We stumbled across this little gem and had to pass along - seems that Google is getting all jiggly with the made-in-Japan QR Code tech. now finally. We found it at least somewhat ‘interesting’ they opted to use the iPhone - instead of Android - handset for the promo video. We paused the u-Tube clip embedded below and tried a few scans which returned link addys - mostly the same one - loaded site pages, on our Jpn handset, that were basically useless.
SoftBank Mobile – Not Your Typical Telco
We recently submitted this article - as pasted below - to our friend, and long-time outside adviser, Alan Moore. It’s an honor and privilege for us to be included on his SMLXL site, noting that we’re also thrilled to be invited recently to join as an Opinion Leader on the Canvas8 platform.
Intl Round Table on Radio Diversity
Representatives from Europe, the USA and Japan attended the International Round Table on Radio Diversity, held at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), to share the latest findings from private industry, national regulators, academia and research institutes. Mobikyo founders took part, along with other experts, to discuss Europe’s wireless communication schemes which are under increasing stress and fail to deliver the full competitive benefits that citizens expect from their radio regulators.
NTT Collaborates with Conexus
NTT Communications announced today that it has agreed with Conexus Mobile Alliance, a cooperative association of Asia-Pacific mobile operators, to deliver enterprise smartphone solutions that multinational corporations can use to support their expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. As part of providing these solutions, NTT Com also will offer consultation on applicable smartphones and tariff plans in countries/regions where Conexus members have a presence. NTT Com began providing Global Messaging solutions on April 1 of this year.
Latest DoCoMo Handsets - Version Up?
We made our way to the DoCoMo press conference held at the Tokyo Forum here yesterday afternoon to witness the wraps-off event of their Fall & Winter handset series. Under the tag line “Version Up” the lineup featured a total of 19 new designs on offer, with 5 Sharp units, 4 models by Fujitsu, 3 from each LG, NEC and Panasonic plus 1 Samsung. Considering the range of new devices - along with service announcements such as Auto-GPS for i-concier, MyArea Femtocell with exclusive AV contents for the home plus several Blu-ray capable units - there should, at least hopefully, be something appealing here for everybody. Check-out this Flash Gallery or see the full 80-minute presentation Video Here.
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- Carlyle Group Books Loss on Willcom
- Mobile World Congress 2010 Report
- Global Solution for Voice over LTE
- Wholesale Applications Community
- Japan Trials RCS Initiative
- Buffalo Licenses Ericsson WiFi Patents
- Tokyo Court Grants Qualcomm Stay
- KDDI Invests in American MVNOs
- LG Gains LTE Approval in Japan
- DoCoMo to Demo LTE handset at MWC
