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eMobile

eAccess Courting Goldman Sachs

ADSL Broadband firm and mobile carrier wannabe eAccess is in discussion with American’s Goldman Sachs Group regarding significant investment in the firm. eAccess issued a Japanese press release in response to an article in the Nihon Keizai Daily. The article reported that the company plans to partner with Goldman Sachs with an investment by the American corporate giant of 25 billion yen through GS Capital Partners. Goldman Sachs has ties with Universal Studios Japan and could smooth plans for eAccess to distribute Universal video games over Japanese 3G cell phones. The article went on to say that they may also develop phone-based travel content including golf and hotel reservations for properties with Goldman Sachs ties.

Lucent Technologies and Japan's eAccess Complete Successful HSDPA 3G Tests

Lucent Technologies and eAccess Ltd., today announced that the two companies have completed successful High-Speed Downlink Packet Access data calls as part of a third- generation (3G) Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) network trial announced earlier this year. The testing took place in May and used the 1.7 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band that is being made available in Japan for the deployment of mobile service. Following these successful tests, the two companies plan to conduct a field trial in commercial and residential areas of Tokyo in the coming months. The trial will include deployment of an HSDPA-enhanced W-CDMA network in the 1.7 GHz spectrum band, and also will incorporate Lucent’s IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution.

Xybernaut and Stargate Mobile Deliver Wireless Computing for Auto Industries

Xybernaut Corp. and Stargate Mobile LLC today announced a partnership relationship under which Xybernaut mobile/wireless computing technologies and Stargate integration and solution expertise will be combined into a single solution for a variety of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and after-market applications within the automotive industry. Under the relationship, Stargate has joined Team Xybernaut(TM) as a systems integrator and solution provider working with Xybernaut in the automotive sectors. Both companies have been working together for more than six months to develop and deploy the integrated computing platforms.

NTT DoCoMo Launches Bytemobile Optimization Solution in its Core Network

Bytemobile, the company dedicated to delivering pure, optimizedaccess to network operators, service providers and enterprises, today announced that NTT DoCoMo has deployed Bytemobile’s optimization solution in its core network to enable faster end- user access and more cost efficient delivery of applications such as web browsing and email. “The sheer volume of their data subscribers underscores the fact that NTT DoCoMo leads the world market with data services that offer a great end-user experience,” said Steve Livingston, executive vice president for Bytemobile. “We’re pleased that our optimization solution was selected for their network.” Bytemobile’s optimization solutions have been broadly deployed at more than 30 operators around the globe; the DoCoMo installation represents the first large commercial deployment in Japan.

Japan Cell Phones: Most Individualized, Intimate Technology

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) isn’t particularly renowned for exciting, fun-to-read reports. The global standards body tends to produce authoritative but somewhat plodding publications that delve into the arcana of topics like radio spectrum management and regulatory trends. But a recent case study examining how Japan’s mobile Internet works and highlighting some of the key technology and applications driving 3G is refreshingly non-academic, not to mention pretty darn accurate.

Enfour Partners with Houghton Mifflin Company's American Heritage

Today Enfour Group rolled out a new language reference service featuring Houghton Mifflin Company’s AmericanHeritage(r) dictionary titles on Japanese mobile phone networks. This new mobile service – Comprehensive English Dictionary – takes the American Heritage(r) dictionaries into themobile content arena for the first time and services both Japanese and English speakers via official carrier menus.

Euro Feedback and the Future of WWJ

WWJ subscribers did a great job of summarizing and opinion-izing on the state of the mobile Internet in Europe, and I would venture that the information contained below in today’s newsletter probably couldn’t be purchased anywhere – or if it could, the cost would be substantial. My overall take after reading, editing (slightly), and collating the responses is that – Wow! – Europe’s come a long way in the past two years. It strikes me that Europe 2003 is akin to Japan 2000, with new networks, data services, and innovative business models all being trialed, proven, and – in some cases (Did someone say “KPN i-mode?”) disproven.

Mobile Software Goes Overseas

While a slowdown in new announcements can be expected during the upcoming shogatsu New Year holiday period, 2003 promises to provide even more activity now that UK-based Vodafone has launched a 3G network in Japan and is expected to seek know-how and technology from Japan for its operations elsewhere. Further, Japanese software developers are sure to continue looking outside this country’s near-saturated market for new sales opportunities.