The latest cell phones can show you the nearest bathrooms in San Francisco or which subway to take in London. They can also help with your diet by tracking calorie intake. Behind such programs and more is the very technology at the center of an intense battle between Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. over control of desktop computers.
Campaigns targeting MobileNet consumers must go beyond considerations of location and time focusing on broader user context in order to be effective, according to a study released today by researchers at the International University of Japan. Based on the results of 14,000 mobile user responses nationwide, the researchers have created an approach that includes user context for developing and deploying MobileNet solutions. Although physical location and time of day at which users access the MobileNet is important and correlated to some extent with user content choice, the results suggest that such factors provide no true foundation upon which to build effective marketing campaigns or profitable business models.
NEC Corp. has demonstrated a third-generation cell phone that it claims is the first to incorporate a digital-TV tuner. NEC plans to demonstrate the TV cell phone at Telecom World 2003, the International Telecommunication Union event to be held Oct. 12-18 in Geneva, Switzerland.
NTT DoCoMo and its eight regional subsidiaries announced today new measures to counter the growing number of spam mail being sent via the network. The initiatives, in which offenders will either have their DoCoMo services temporarily suspended or completely rescinded, are part of the company’s continuous efforts in the fight against spam. In the past, spam mail was mainly sent to i-mode handsets from personal computers via the internet. To prevent this, DoCoMo implemented various measures, asking users to restrict incoming e-mail by blocking or accepting mail only from designated sources (domains or e-mail addresses).
“Wireless fidelity” is allowing an ever-increasing number of laptops and personal digital assistants (PDA) to log on to the Internet with broadband speeds — cable-free — in airports, VIP lounges, planes and hotels worldwide. The momentum for Wi-Fi is beginning to reach a critical mass in the travel industry with corporate travelers leading the way.
KDDI Corporation and Okinawa Cellular Telephone are pleased to announce the release of the A1304T (manufactured by Toshiba Corporation) and the A1401K (manufactured by Kyocera Corporation) as part of a new 3G (CDMA2000 1x) lineup, enabling data transmission of up to 144kbps. Both support MovieMail, enabling users to capture and send seamless movies. The two new handsets are scheduled for sale from the beginning of August.
