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

Year: 2005

Clarion Steers iPod into Car Navigation System

Clarion Steers iPod into Car Navigation System

Apple’s iPod is putting the ‘fun’ in functionality and Japanese electronics makers are innovating for a piece of the action. Car navigation system maker Clarion has added iPod access to their newest AddZest HDD series. Touch panels on the MAX950HD and MAX850HD will synch with the iPod via an optional connector cable. Like the iTunes PC display, the car version can bring up album covers and artist’ names on the screen. Drivers who prefer to burn music instead of rubber can use both the 950 and 850 to rip CDs at speeds of 4X to 7X. Something to do in those endless rush hour traffic jams. The built-in hard disk will hold around 4000 tunes. Full Specs from the company press release [in Japanese].

Bandai, Namco Joining Forces?

Bandai, creator of “The Power Rangers” and “Ultraman”, valued at 236.5 billion yen, may merge with Namco, who created “Pac-Man,” and has a market value of 154.9 billion yen, to create Japan’s second-biggest toy and video-game maker. The companies will combine as early as September under a holding company run by Bandai President Takeo Takasu and Namco Vice Chairman Kyushiro Takagi, according to Nihon Keizai shimbun article today. The companies may also develop content for high-speed Internet access and mobile phone users, the newspaper said.

Mobile Phone Controlled by Shaking

The V603SH mobile phone (manufactured by Sharp of Japan) released by Vodafone KK in mid-February 2005 can be operated by shaking or tilting. With the menu screen displayed, the case can be tilted left-right or up-down, just like rolling a ball on your palm, to move the cursor in four or eight directions. By shaking the case in a preset fashion, the user can open specified menus or launch applications.

Japan Exporting BREW Mobile Game Contents

Japan Exporting BREW Mobile Game ContentsKDDI will export BREW-based mobile game know-how to American telecoms hungry for advanced mobile content. Game producers Interactive Brains and Mobcast Inc. are KDDI’s first partners in this venture. Mobcast will initially supply two games: a quick-draw shooting game, ‘Hayauchi Gunman’ and ‘Photo Aquarium,’ which lets you decorate pictures on a mobile phone with a mobile aquarium. Interactive Brains will provide a high-speed 3-D racing game, Lightstream, available here on Vodafone and au. The content will be offered by the Japanese game makers with KDDI providing collection services and taking a cut of the action. The company also intends to localize game software itself for marketing and distribution on overseas networks. According to Interactive Brains, their game is scheduled for release in the US between late summer and autumn.

Japan Mobile Telco's Q4 Forcast

NTT DoCoMo and KDDI Corp. may say Q4 operating profit fell as they paid retailers more to lure shoppers and promote new handsets. DoCoMo’s operating profit probably dropped 83 percent to 44.4 billion yen ($420 million) in the three months ended March 31, according to the median targets of nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The company’s biggest rival in Japan, KDDI, may say operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, fell 6.8 percent to 53.5 billion yen.