Japan will start licensing cellphone “sommeliers” to help guide consumers through complicated functions as mobile telephones become ever more advanced. The communications ministry said it would support a private-sector plan to launch an exam to license specialists who sell cellphones.
DeNA Co., Ltd. announced [in Japanese] that it has decided to establish a new wholly owned subsidiary in the U.S., The subsidiary will be established in California with capital amount of USD 500,000 in January 2008. The subsidiary, DeNA Global Inc., will be engaged in provision of mobile services in the U.S. market according to this note found via Reuters Finance.
According to various local media Twitter will enter the Japanese market in the spring. One interesting post indicates that they are working with Digital Garage, who has made a small investment, and will help localize the service. Also noted was that Twitter founder, Evan Williams, revealed late last year that 20% of their users are – already – based in Japan!
Based on an increasing concern for clients under 18 with mobile data plans who currently may access adult related content SoftBank Mobile has announced the upcoming implimentation of their “Yahoo Kids” content filter option. According to the announcement; “Web use limitation” is a function to limit the access to specific URL’s based on net star Ltd.’s list classification standard. The category that becomes an object is as follows: Unlawfulness, adult, meeting, gambling, grotesqueness, and occult. Apparently, there are certain official contents that will become inaccessible when the filter is in place.
JiJi Press is reporting that Japan mobile market leader DoCoMo slipped to third place in annual mobile phone subscriber growth, for the first time, in 2007 based on TCA data released Thursday. Industry-wide subscribers grew 5.9 pct year-on-year with DoCoMo still holding a commanding lead in market share of 52.9 pct, followed by KDDI with 29.4 pct and Softbank with 17.5 pct.
DoCoMo announced today that subscribers to their i-channel news service surpassed 15 million on January 3, 2008. The achievement came nine months after surpassing 10 million subscribers and two years and three months after the service’s launch (WWJ video). The monthly cost of the service is 150 yen and there is no extra charge for headlines sent to the subscriber phone’s standby screen, but packet charges apply when detailed content is viewed.
