3G Phones with Flash or WLAN

3G Phones with Flash or WLAN

This free-for-all program takes you to KDDI’s recent launch event at the Imperial hotel announcing the carrier’s three new WIN handsets, all now making use of Macromedia Flash lite. You’ll get a close-up of these phones in action plus tips on the new 3G flat-rate price plan coming in August. We also highlight NTT DoCoMo’s N900iL dual-mode 802.11b/W-CDMA handset based on the FOMA N900i which, unfortunately, has been transformed into the de facto proprietary, intranet-only “Passage Duple” WLAN phone by NEC and DoCoMo. While future versions may run on the consumer-targeted M-Stage platform, for now this first baby step into the dual-mode 3G/Wi-Fi world is aimed exclusively at corporate-controlled walled gardens.

The three KDDI 3G phones shown today, the W21S by Sony-Ericsson, the W21SA by Sanyo, and the W21K from Kyocera, don’t push the bleeding edge. But what they do have (megapixel cameras and huge, 600-kilobyte EZ Appli Macromedia Flash capability) show that KDDI is still on target for rolling out cool keitai with appealing features, functions, and fun for which Japanese consumers will open their wallets.

All three handsets feature Qualcomm’s MSM 6500 chipset, the world’s first handsets with the MSM 6500, according to the company. They are also compliant with the USB1.1 and Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1. The Flash standard is features a 600-kilobyte expanded program size limit for EZ Appli BREW applications and enable mobile game apps like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. KDDI expects to sell 600,000 of these three models in the first month or so from launch and 3 million by March 2005.NTT DoCoMo, however, failed to rock any boats with its FOMA N900iL WLAN/3G “Passage Duple” phone (by NEC) that only works on a corporate intranet; this, we guess, was probably the point — why would a carrier want to offer free WLAN calls in anything but the most limited and walled-in way?DoCoMo did mention that future phones might connect to the consumer-targeted M-Stage platform of audio, video, e-Book, and other services.

DoCoMo may also have a fight on its hands.In mid-July, Softbank said it also planned a WLAN cell-phone-based service using a prototype it’s developing with US-based IPWireless Inc. The TDD (time division duplex) next-generation cell-phone service would use existing IP networks for voice communications.The government has set aside the 2,010- to 2,025-MHz frequency band for TDD cell phone services; TDD services are expected to be launched within two to three years by Softbank and eAccess, among others. Softbank thinks it can squeeze 10 million subscribers out of the new mobile broadband service, enough to put the hard terrors into existing, licensed-spectrum carriers.

— WWJ Editors

Related: Viewpoint (on KDDI), 12 July 2004:
KDDI Flash Slashes Prices, Debuts 3 Models

Related: Viewpoint (on DoCoMo) 13 July 2004:
DoCoMo Drops Consumers from WLAN/3G