Year: <span>2003</span>
Year: 2003

Year: 2003

WPC Expo 2003: 1st FOMA Intl. Video Call – DoCoMo Finally in the Drivers Seat?

WWJ was busy shooting video at Makahari Messe in Chiba last week, think telematics, wristphones and international FOMA videoconferencing. But enough teasing: The news we didn’t see elsewhere about the show was that DoCoMo, is – finally – taking telematics seriously, as we found in a quick interview with Hidenori Obara of DoCoMo’s ITS Business Promotion Office. Obara admitted that DoCoMo is “behind” KDDI, with the latter pushing all sorts of mobile-WLAN technologies to potentially hook into a slab of Japan’s 12.3 million in-auto car navigation (car nabi) systems. In a separate development, we heard that Seiko is adding a color screen, but not a camera function, on its Wristomo PHS phone. Unsurprisingly, they are not planning to mount a CCD chip because it’ll make the wearers’ wrist limp from the extra weight, and the extra battery power needed might be another issue. Tune in next week and see it all for yourself when we show FOMA’s first international video call, chat with DoCoMo’s Mariko Hanaoka, and get a peek at Panasonic’s next killer app. for camera phones everywhere!!

KDDI Announces GLOBAL PASSPORT Services to Taiwan

KDDI and Okinawa Cellular Telephone is pleased to announce that in collaboration with Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications Inc. (APBW), GLOBAL PASSPORT, the global roaming service that enables customers to use their mobile phones overseas will be launched in Taiwan. With this launch of the service in Taiwan, GLOBAL PASSPORT will now cover 12 countries and regions, and approximately 73% of Japanese overseas travelers will be able to take the advantage of the roaming service.

KDDI Tops Ten Million 3G Users

KDDI Corporation and Okinawa Cellular Telephone announced that the total cumulative number of users for the 3G mobile phones (CDMA2000 1x) being offered by the two companies has surpassed ten million on September 16. Sales of CDMA2000 1x au mobile phones began on April 1, 2002. The ten million mark was surpassed less than eighteen months after the original release.

DoCoMo Develops 3G Micro Base Stations

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today the development of micro base stations for the 3G network that are up to 1/30th the size of conventional base stations. The service area of the FOMA service has expanded steadily, which will reach 96% of the population nationwide by the end of September. The micro base stations will allow DoCoMo to expand FOMA service more economically and with greater flexibility for adaptation to operational environments.

Motorola Unveils MPX200 Phone

Motorola has unveiled a PDA-phone based on the Windows operating system, giving the company a product range that now spans three major smart phone platforms. Based on Microsoft’s Smartphone 2002 software, joins other recently-launched Motorola phones using the rival Linux and Symbian operating systems. For now the phone will only be available in Hong Kong, according to a Motorola spokesman.

The Mobile Phone Number Portability Fairy Cometh

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan’s equivalent of The Financial Times or The Wall Street Journal, reported on Sunday September 7 that Japan will introduce number portability to keitai from 2005. If you’re not familiar with this system, it allows you tokeep your cell phone number when you switch between carriers and thus removes one of the significant barriers to jumping ship and signing up with a rival provider. Now call me a cynic if you like, but doesn’t it seem a little too convenient that this system is being introduced just as it is becoming difficult to sign up new subscribers?