Year: <span>2006</span>
Year: 2006

Year: 2006

JCB to Trial NFC in Netherlands

JCB, the Japan-based payment card company, says it will trial a Near Field Communication (NFC)-based mobile-phone payment service in Amsterdam beginning this autumn, according to an online article. The company says it is conducting the pilot because it sees payment applications on mobile handsets as a way to convert small-value transactions to its card scheme. Seven other companies are involved in the pilot, providing chip, personalization services, payment terminals, the phones and transaction processing.

Hitachi to Boost RFID Business

Hitachi Ltd., Japan’s largest electronics conglomerate, said on Wednesday it plans to launch full-scale wireless tag operations, targeting a 16 percent share of the $3.5 billion domestic market in the next four years. Hitachi, which first developed an IC tag in 2001, has forecast 9.7 trillion yen in consolidated sales in the year to March 2007.

PacketVideo Teams with DoCoMo

We missed this PR yesterday from PacketVideo announcing their “collaboration with NTT DoCoMo to enable advanced mobile music services for the Japanese market using Microsoft Windows Media technology. The collaboration has resulted in the first-ever support of Windows Media Audio protected by DRM in NTT DoCoMo’s 3G FOMA handsets, powered by PacketVideo’s Universal pvPlayer media player. PacketVideo has long supported Windows Media in US mobile service launches and has provided i-motion player capabilities for more than 20 of NTT DoCoMo’s FOMA handsets.

DoCoMo Seeking 3G Partner in China

NTT DoCoMo may seek partners in China after the Chinese government issues licenses for high-speed networks to expand in the world’s biggest mobile phone market. One of the standards, called W- CDMA, is the same as the platform adopted by DoCoMo in Japan. “We have to see what kind of technology the operators will use,” Takeshi Natsuno, senior vice president of multimedia services at Tokyo-based DoCoMo, said in an interview broadcast today. “After that, we can decide what kind of strategic alliance we’re going to make.”

Vodafone K.K. Announces Reco Mail Service

Vodafone K.K. just announced the roll-out, available from today, of a new service called ‘RECO MAIL’ which enables customers to send their favorite mobile content such as music, video and games via MMS and other methods to friends and acquaintances as recommendations. At the time of launch, 17 content sites with an estimated 33,780 files, on Vodafone live! support this new so-called “Super Distribution” copyright protection method communication service.

New Sharp 3G Handsets for Europe

Sharp Corp. said Friday that it will start selling later this month in Europe two new 3G models specifically designed for that market. The Osaka-based consumer electronics maker, known for its “Aquos” brand LCD TVs, will supply the new mobile phone handsets to Vodafone Group Plc, a Sharp spokesman said. He declined to comment on the price tag, which will reportedly be set in the EUR150 to EUR200 range, on par with similar cellphones sold in Europe.