Content providers like i-mode because it’s easy to program for — the format is nearly identical to regular Web pages — and they get 86% of the carrier’s take from content sales. Also important, i-mode runs on upgraded wireless networks, known as 2.5G or GPRS, that offer faster, always-on connections. What’s the attraction? Unlike the often-shoddy WAP offerings of a few years back, i-mode is a tightly woven, easily navigable package of preselected services.
TDK Corporation begins volume production of the industry’s first* 0603 type (0.6 mm x 0.3 mm) multilayer chip varistor this August. The new chip varistor is about one-fifth the volume and weight of previous products. In order to respond to the demand for smaller, lighter, and lower power consuming mobile devices including cell phones, PDAs, laptop computers, and digital cameras, semiconductor elements are being made with higher degrees of integration and to operate on lower voltages.
Matsushita Electric, best known for its Panasonic-brand electronics and communications products, and Picsel Technologies, a pioneering provider of embedded software, today announced that the two companies entered into a licensing agreement to embed Picsel Browser and Picsel File Viewer on Panasonic SD Memory Card products. Under the agreement, Panasonic will globally market the Picsel PoweredTM SD Memory Cards, which will greatly enhance the Internet Browsing and File Viewing capabilities of mobile information devices.
Vodafone Group Plc, the world’s largest mobile-phone company, said customers at its mobile-phone unit in Japan spent an average of 4.3 percent less in the first quarter on their monthly phone bills. Customers of Vodafone’s J-Phone Co. spent an average of 6,980 yen in the three months ended June 30, down from 7,290 yen a month in the same period a year earlier.
China, the world’s largest market for cell phones, is aggressively developing a homegrown technology that can run the next generation of mobile telephone networks, challenging the traditional dominance of American and European companies. During the 1990s, as China spent $10 billion to build a national mobile telephone network, foreign companies reaped most of the rewards. Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia produced much of the equipment that runs the networks and many of the phones on them.
Vodafone Chief Executive Chris Gent steps down next week after more than 17 years at the mobile phone titan, lowering the curtain on the last of the old guard of Europe’s shaken telecoms industry. Gent, 55, is one of the few chief executives whose reputation remains largely unscathed in a market where heads rolled and big-name firms sought financial rescue after one of the most dramatic share price falls on record.
HI Corp, a mobile 3D rendering technology developer in Japan, and the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola Inc have agreed that HI will offer its Mascot Capsule Engine to customers of Motorola’s Innovative Convergence i.250, 2.5G GSM/GPRS handset platform. The HI technology is also scheduled to be available to Motorola’s i.MX applications processor customers and i.Smart smartphone reference design customers.
Sales of mobile phone handsets in Japan totaled 11.9 million units from January to March, up 33.7% from a year earlier for the second consecutive quarterly rise, Gartner Japan Ltd. said Wednesday. Handset sales rose due to a slight increase in new mobile phone subscriptions and brisk demand to replace existing handsets with high-end, camera-equipped models.
Kyocera Wireless Corp, a leading manufacturer of CDMA wireless devices, and AIRDESK Inc., an international provider of wireless data solutions and services, today announced that the new Kyocera 200 Module is available for order from AIRDESK in small and large quantities. Having recently completed the strict certification process at Verizon Wireless, the Kyocera 200 is the only wireless module to incorporate both trimode CDMA2000 1XRTT high-speed voice/data and assisted-GPS (A-GPS) position location technologies. Within the wireless industry, AIRDESK is a recognized expert and resource for data solutions and services, with a focus on the M2M and telemetry markets.
AT&T Wireless today announced agreements with Nortel Networks and Ericsson to deploy what is expected to be the first commercial W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple band Access) wireless network in North America. The W-CDMA network can support high speed VPN access, audio and video applications, as well as advanced location-based and m-Commerce features.
