Year: <span>2005</span>
Year: 2005

Year: 2005

Casio Pushing for U.S. Market

Japan’s Casio Computer Co. is making an overseas push with plans to supply 3G phones to U.S. mobile carriers and a deal to win shelf space for its digital cameras at U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy, Casio President Kazuo Kashio said on Wednesday. The company’s new waterproof and shock-resistant 3G phones (launched in Japan earlier this year), which make up more than a fifth of total sales, have received high marks, Kashio said in an interview, declining to identify the U.S. carriers involved.

Accton Launching Skype Cellphone

Taiwan-based Accton Technology unveiled its Skype-enabled Wi-Fi phone, the SkyFone WM1185-T, in Tokyo at the so-called "Skype day" event. The new unit [.jpg] enables a talk time of up to four hours with a stand-by-time of up to 20 hours and is likely to be initially priced at over US$150 in the retail market, according to sources. Accton also plans to introduce dual-mode mobile phones that support both GSM and Wi-Fi technology in early 2006.

Virtual Girlfriend for Your Mobile

Hong Kong-based Artificial Life, Inc., a provider of mobile 3G technology and applications, have just announced that its flagship and award-winning 3G product: V-Girl – "Your Virtual Girlfriend" – will launch with 3 in Hong Kong today. WWJ has been following the roll-out of Artificial Life products over the last few months and we expect to see them in Japan very soon as the company is in negotiations with the major carriers here.

Japan to Grant New Carrier Licenses

Competition in Japan’s already crowded cell-phone market is set to intensify as the government prepares to open the door to new entrants for the first time in 12 years. Softbank, eAccess and IP Mobile will be granted licenses by the government to offer cell-phone services, possibly from next year, Jiji Press and Kyodo News said Tuesday, citing unnamed informed sources.

Web Update: It’s official!

NEC Set to Deliver HSDPA Network

NEC Corporation announced that its High Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) is ready to be delivered for use in commercial networks worldwide. The successful field network operation trial for NEC’s HSDPA was carried out this summer through the cooperation of Vodafone K.K. in Japan. During the trial, Node-Bs and radio network controllers (RNC) based on NEC’s HSDPA achieved a high level of performance and functionality, including high-speed internet access among HSDPA-based 3G mobile terminals, consecutive data transmission and handover in a HSDPA service environment and flexible and variable change in transmission speed.

DoCoMo Launching Mobile Credit Card

DoCoMo’s Osaifu keitai (mobile wallet) line of cell phones will soon have their own branded virtual credit card for mobile payments. The iD card (‘i’ as in “i-mode”) will be launched on December 1, 2005 and will enhance existing credit card services by giving credit card owners the option of making payments via a DoCoMo wallet phone linked to the card, in addition to conventional payments with their plastic credit card. That means charges through the phone will automatically be deducted from the user’s designated credit card. Just waving the phones in front of dedicated reader/writers at stores will start the payment process.