Editor’s Note
Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

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.

DoCoMo Share Price at Record Low

According to this report via Bloomberg, DoCoMo aims to rely on dividend payments and strategic investments to raise its share price from record lows. “The dividend is our top policy choice, followed by investments in growth areas; buying back shares comes after that,” Tsubouchi said in an interview today. “The share price is just too low.” Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said.

4G Chipset for Willcom XGP

Wavesat announced that its “Odyssey” chipset is the first, and currently the only, to be widely deployed in Willcom’s new “XGP” broadband wireless network, which entered commercial service this month in Japan. Willcom’s data-only XGP service, based on a 4G “OFDMA” standard, is available to the general public and enterprise users. The 4G multi-core architecture incorporates multiple ultra low power DSPs, offering flexibility, high performance and low power consumption. The SOC manufactured using advanced Embedded DRAM technology requires no external memory, thus saving customers power consumption for very small form-factor. The Odyssey chipset is featured in Willcom’s GX001N XGP PC Cards manufactured by NEC.

A Super Slick Mobile Ad Campaign

While blitzing through the typhoon from one meeting to another along the JR Yamanote lines yesterday afternoon we stumbled across this groovy installation by Mediacure on the platform. Promoting the latest hot drink sensation – CoCo Presso, basically Hot CoCo flavored espresso – which has also been running what would have to be a rather expensive TV ad campaign.

Mildly interested, and certainly in need of a hot shot of something, upon entering the booth it was clear they were using the FeliCa tap & go call-to-action, note reader embedded beside the LCD screen on the last photo. Sure enough it loaded a crisp Flash mobile website offering a coupon for a quick discount on the product via the co-located vending machine, which of course is also NFC-enabled. The entire sequence of snapping the pix below and grabbing a jolt of sweet caffeine took like 90-seconds before our next train came along. Thanks to the folks at Meiji – this surprise treat really made our day!

DoCoMo Unveils Touch Wood Handset

DoCoMo announced it has developed a mobile phone prototype made with the surplus wood of trees culled during thinning operations to maintain healthy forests. The mock-up was created in collaboration with Sharp, Olympus and th ‘More Trees’ reforestation project founded by musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and others. This would represent a natural addition to previous corn based offerings – circa 2005 – via NEC and Fujitsu.

Ad:Tech Tokyo Conference 2009

We attended the inaugural Ad:Tech Tokyo conference yesterday at the Prince Park Tokyo hotel to wander the trade floor and take in a few presentations. The “Effective Mobile Marketing Tools & Case Studies” panel was a clearly a must attend, and the room was packed. Moderated by Akihiko Tokuhisa, Director and CTO of the Digital Advertising Consortium, with presentations by Shigeki Tanaka, GM of Corp. Strategy at FeliCa Networks, Alvin Foo VP for APAC at Velti, John Largerling, VP and GM for AdMob Japan and our very own colleague Kei Shimada CEO at Infinita. Some very interesting slides during that session which was closed with very wise observations by Tokuhisa-san, impressive!

Japan Telecom at ITU World 2009

ITU World 2009 runs again this year, Oct. 5 – 9 in Geneva, with 18 Japanese Telecom leaders on-hand to discuss ICTs for economic growth. With its focus on development opportunities, the event brings together corporate social responsibility and displays cases of best practices. As always it looks to be a fantastic high-level gathering and we hope to be there!