As we mentioned when Casio’s G’zOne handset [.jpg image] launched here in May 2005 “This could be a design winner should it land on US shores in time for the Christmas shopping rush”. While it took a bit much longer, we just noticed they have rolled-out an amusing interactive flash website, touting the rugged nature of what should be a great Japanese handset for the U.S market.
Just in time for 3GSM, mobile auto-racing fanatics in Spain can snag a Mclaren Mercedes branded cell phone [.jpg image] from Vodafone. Apparently the collectors edition, for 69 Euro with a two year contract, will be made available to mark Alonso’s switch from Renault to Mclaren Mercedes in the upcoming 2007 Formula One season. The Sharp 770SH ML handset features a QVGA screen, 1.3MP camera, MP3 player, miniSD card slot and USB.
Sprint and Sanyo have announced full availability of the M1 handset [.jpg image] as Sprint’s first phone with 1GB of internal memory. The M1’s key features include Bluetooth, a 2.0 megapixel camera with auto-focus, storage for up to 16 hours of music with nine equalizer settings for fine-tuning the listening experience. The unit also has external i-pod style music controls and a large external LCD for optimal usability.
Happy New Year greetings from Masayoshi Son and friends at the former Vodafone Japan – now SoftBank Mobile – came in the form of this press release [.pdf in Japanese] announcing they will offer a limited flat-rate voice package starting mid-January. The 980jpy per month deal allows unlimited voice calling and mobile mail, effective between SoftBank 3G customers, from 1 a.m and 9 p.m. Son also apparently promised if competitors decide to follow his lead, offering a lower rate, within 24 hours he will undercut their prices.
Osaka-based Dorga Ltd.has announced their Time Machine Navi application which displays historic scenery according to the position and the direction of an enabled cellphone screen. The sample site, Ruins of Heijo Palace in Nara, was unveiled in the final report of the ‘Intellectual Cluster Creation Business’ that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology creation has been funding since 2002.
INFO PLANT recently conducted a nationwide survey during a one-week period of mobile phone users, via the Toku-suru menu on NTT DoCoMo i-mode, and based the following results on 4,987 valid responses. 93.2% of all respondents had subscribed to receive mail magazines on their phones. 39.6% of them have signed up to 3-5 different ones. The largest portion of the users have signed up for 3-5 mail magazines (39.6%), followed by 6-9 (19.1%), and 1-2 (16.2%). Looked at by gender and age, over 20% of those subscribed to over 10 mail magazines were males and females in their 40’s, which was higher than any other age group.
