Year: <span>2008</span>
Year: 2008

Year: 2008

iPhone Sees Slow Japan Sales?

At least according to this post on WSJ. While we could take issue with several assurances therein, niggly details aside, it would seem that Steves amazing device is not exactly blowing the doors off at local retails shops after the first predictable wave of sales in early July. That being said the prediction for 1M unit sales in Japan was based on a full year and their price package, handset and monthly fee, is certainly competative enough. As usual there’s much more than meets the eye on a story like this!

NEC to Co-op with Telecom Italia

According to JiJi Press, NEC has announced it will cooperate with Telecom Italia in the field of broadband and wireless communications technologies. By the end of next March, NEC plans to set up a facility in Italy to introduce state-of-the-art communications technologies and conduct connection tests. Through the tie-up, NEC will aim to win contracts to supply communications equipment to Rome-based Telecom Italia, the leading telecommunications service provider in Italy, and carriers in other European nations and Latin American countries which are affiliated with the Italian firm.

DoCoMo Buys into Blue Ocean Wireless

DoCoMo has announced that it invested 10 million U.S. dollars to acquire an 11.5 percent stake in Blue Ocean Wireless (BOW), an Irish company providing GSM communication systems to the merchant maritime sector. The acquisition is the latest joint endeavor with its affiliate Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), including PLDT’s wholly owned mobile subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), one of BOW’s shareholders. As part of the arrangement, DoCoMo intends to assist BOW’s management in adding value to its services for global maritime carriers.

DoCoMo Overcharged for Intl. Services

NTT DoCoMo said Wednesday that it will refund up to 32.25 million yen (approx. $300K usd) that it overcharged for its international roaming services in Germany and Cyprus. The top Japanese mobile carrier wrongly charged 100 yen for up to 100 data communication packets in Germany, instead of 50 yen for up to 50 packets, as specified in fee agreements formulated in March 2006. DoCoMo will deduct the excess charges from bills for September, as long as it can confirm the amounts from detailed records of customer communications.

MCN Announces Global Launch of allwords

Tokyo-based Mobile Content Networks (MCN), has announced that its popular mobile content merchandising program, allwords, is launching globally following its success in Japan since launching earlier this year. Initial allwords(sm) distribution partners will include Thailand’s AIS, DTAC, and TrueMove, Avea of Turkey, Scandinavia’s Tele2, and myGamma.com, BuzzCity’s fast growing mobile social network. MCN also confirmed that it will roll-out allwords in the U.S. as part of a commercial trial it is conducting with a leading mobile operator.

WiMAX License for Japanese CATV Firm

A Japanese government panel has apparently approved a plan to grant Reinan Cable Network Co. a license to provide WiMAX services on a regional basis. The Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture-based cable television company is expected to get the license from a local bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications as early as next Monday.