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

Year: 2005

Visto Expands Presence in Asia Pacific

Visto Corporation today announced a significant expansion of its Asia Pacific operations to support new market growth in Asia with the opening of a world-class development center and sales offices in China and Japan, and the appointment of Antoine Blondeau as senior vice president and general manager of the Asia-Pacific region. An accomplished executive in the software and wireless telecommunications industries, Blondeau will be based in Visto’s new Tokyo office.

Sun and DoCoMo Announce Star Java

Sun Microsystems today announced an agreement with NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile operator, to deliver a next-generation mobile data services platform based on open-standard Java technology. Codenamed * Project (Star Project), this collaboration extends the two companies’ successful ongoing relationship to deliver the development tools and a secure, feature-rich Java technology-based environment that will help deliver on DoCoMo’s mission to enrich consumers’ lifestyles and bring people closer together.

ACCESS and Infineon Collaborate to Develop Next Generation Mobile Handsets

ACCESS announced today that it has entered into collaboration with Infineon Technologies, the world’s fourth largest semiconductor company, to facilitate the development and deployment of next generation mobile handsets worldwide. Under the terms of the agreement ACCESS will work with Infineon to bring state-of-the art mobile browsing and mobile JavaTM functionality through its advanced NetFront Mobile Client Suite to Infineon’s APOXI® application framework and Multimedia Mobile Phone Platforms powered by the S-Gold™ base band processor family. The collaboration with ACCESS further reinforces Infineon’s ability to provide mobile handset manufacturers worldwide with comprehensive solutions that streamline the development and deployment of 2.5G and 3G mobile handsets.

Fujitsu Develops New RFID Tag Chip

Fujitsu announced on June 28 that it has added an RFID tag chip with 256B of FRAM (ferroelectric random access memory) to its FerVID family of RFID tag chips. Designed using a 0.35-micron process, the MB89R119 runs at a clock speed of 13.56MHz and supports a wireless communications range of 70cm and a data speed of 26.48Kbps. The chip is sample-priced at 50 yen (46 cents). Fujitsu will launch sales on August 1, aiming to sell 5 million units per month.

Mobile Commerce Surges in Japan over Wireless Networks

Mobile Commerce Surges in Japan over Wireless NetworksMobile commerce over cell phones jumped 25 percent last fiscal year to around 971 billion yen ($8.8 billion) according to a survey on e-business just released by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry [.pdf in Japanese]. Covering all of fiscal 2004 (which in Japan ended March ’05), the survey showed wireless purchases of books and music had grown by 85 percent from virtually nothing the previous year to 330 million yen ($3 million). Shopping for clothing and accessories over the smallest screen accelerated 79 percent, taking in 150 hundred million yen ($1.3 million).

Researchers for the report noted that consumers are comfortable with shopping on the Web, grouping it with other mainstream retail experiences. Individual online (Internet) purchases rose nearly 29 percent to 5.64 trillion yen in fiscal ’04. This confidence has users embracing the anytime, anywhere convenience of the mobile Web in addition to — and even sometimes preferably to – the PC experience.

DoCoMo in Global Terminal Deal

i-mode global allianceDoCoMo’s i-mode goes for the globe! Japan’s leading cellco and its eight alliance partners in Europe, Taiwan and Australia agreed on their first joint procurement tie-up for i-mode handsets. Korea’s LG Electronics will fill what promises to be a very large order for their camera-equipped, clamshell, L342i model with embedded antenna and Java capability. LG has made strong inroads into the European mobile marketplace. A report by IDC on Europe’s mobile phone market showed LG with.. (WWJ subscribers log in to read full story; keywords include terminal partners, i-mode licensees, subscriber count.)