Editor’s Note
Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

Portable Cell Phone Booth

The Portable Cellular Phone Booth provides a visual image of social sacrifices and opportunities to interact with one another lost due to our own self-involvement. This ‘performance art’ retractable phone booth [ .jpg image ] is carried on your back and can slide up and over your head to completely isolate you from society; the action is fast and slick just like the flip action of a cell phone. Via: Gizmodo

Recent Mobile Developments — UPDATE

In yesterday’s WWJ Newsletter I mentioned the news last month that DoCoMo had developed a software platform for FOMA 3G phones — comprising two options: both Linux and Symbian (sorry Bill!), adding “This is big news.” WWJ’s ever-keen Digital Media Director Lawrence Cosh-Ishii pointed out last night that, in December 2003, we carried a video report from Big D’s year-end presser wherein then-CEO Tachikawa said: “Simply speaking, Microsoft is not offering an open standard and an open minded approach” and that DoCoMo “prefers Symbian and possibly Linux for 3G OS.” Never let it be said that WWJ editors miss a chance to say We Told You So!

Mobile Monday Rocks!!!

Mobile Monday Rocks!!!Tokyo’s best and brightest mobilistas gathered for Mobile Monday Tokyo in October, and WWJ was shooting! MoMo is a monthly networking event designed to… well, to get everyone together! What a blast! Folks were there from carriers, handset makers, technology vendors, application developers, and content providers on both the foreign and Japanese side. We spoke with knowledgeable insiders on mobile games, music, and video, and today’s episode brings you the highlights.

Sony Ericsson Triples 3Q Profit

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson today reported that it had more than trebled third quarter pre-tax profits, but the market leader, Nokia, reported a 20% fall. Sony Ericsson, the world’s fifth-biggest handset maker, made gains on the back of soaring demand for its camera phones. It said it expected sales to grow further during the crucial Christmas shopping quarter.

Rocking & Rolling at Mobile Monday

Thrilled to join with nice folks at HP Bazaar to co-host a rocking good MoMo Tokyo debut event on 13 September and it seemed as though most of the unwired digerati within commuting distance of the Pink Cow, in ubertrendy Shibuya, were there. In today’s Portable Reportable, Chief Editor Daniel Scuka quizzes WWJ’s Lawrence Cosh-Ishii on what he saw and heard at the Mobile Monday launch in Tokyo.

MobileMonday – Tokyo Launch Event

The HP Bazaar and Wireless Watch Japan crew have teamed up to organize Tokyo’s first Mobile Monday (MoMo) Event at the Pink Cow in Shibuya. MobileMonday is an open forum for people in the mobile industry. Anyone can attend this informal free-of-charge gathering. Come join in and meet other people in the industry — MoMo is an interactive forum where you can acquire global flair for local enterprises.

Samsung Plans NCF Function

Samsung and Philips announced they are teaming up to incorporate Near-Field Communication technology in future cellphone models from Samsung, giving users the ability to use their phones to make payments. Incorporating an NFC chip from Philips in Samsung’s phones will effectively turn the handsets into contactless smart cards, with the ability to make payments, according to a joint statement. The phones could also be used as a key card to enter a building, for example, this is the same technology, by Sony, that powers mobile FeliCa by in Japan.