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DoCoMo Selects NEC for Super 3G Handsets

NEC announced that theywill develop equipment for Super 3G handsets, following a request for proposal from NTT DoCoMo, NEC plans to deliver commercial Super 3G mobile handsets in 2010. The Super 3G standard is expected to provide super fast downlink data rates of over 100Mbps and uplink data rates of over 50Mbps, low-latency data transmission and improved spectrum efficiency. Super 3G features highly advanced versions of high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) and high-speed uplink packet access (HSUPA), which are W-CDMA packet transmission technologies standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

OKI to Exhibit at ITU Telecom World

Oki Electric announced its participation at the upcoming ITU Telecom World 2006, which will be held in Hong Kong from December 4th to 8th. OKI will exhibit its products based on its position of having launched the first VoIP system in Japan in 1996, and its strong track record with its carrier-grade softswitch, which has been used for 5 million subscribers, the world’s largest scale. At the session for “Towards a safer digital society,” CEO Shinozuka will be making a keynote speech under the theme, “Ubiquitous Security – Towards Realization of a Safe and Secure Digital World.”

Sony, NXP Announce Mobile Wallet JV

Technology companies and mobile operators joined forces on Monday to plan a global standard for electronic wallets in mobile phones. Sony Corp. from Japan and Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors said they will create a joint venture, to be established by the middle of next year, that will plan, develop, produce and market a secure chip that will include both companies’ contactless chip card formats: Mifare and FeliCa.

World First 8GB SDHC Memory Card

Toshiba announced the global launch of the latest addition to its new series of high-capacity SDHC Memory Cards: the industry’s first 8-gigabyte Class 4 memory card. The new card will be introduced in early January 2007, alongside the 4GB products launched in September, and will give Toshiba a larger commercially available lineup in high performance SD Memory Cards. The SDHC (SD High Capacity) Memory Card is based on the SD Card Association’s SD Specifications Ver2.00, which defines high capacity, high performance enhancements to market-leading SD Memory Cards. The new card meets the Class 4 standard, a speed standard that requires a data write speed of at least 4GB/second. Toshiba is first in the industry to announce the launch of Class 4 8GB SDHC memory card.

Sanyo Shares Drop on Loss Forcast

Shares of Sanyo Electric Co., forecasting its first profit in three years, are headed for their biggest drop since January after a report said the company may post a loss this business year. A report in the Asahi newspaper yesterday said Sanyo will cut 1,000 jobs after sales of mobile phones declined and domestic production dropped.

Sony Ericsson at GITEX 2006

Sony Ericsson’s latest phones will be displayed at the GITEX 2006 from 18 to 22 November 2006 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The booth will highlight Sony Ericsson’s newest Walkman music mobile phones the stylish Z series lifestyle phones and the new business phone, the P990i.

Mobile Oracle from Kyoto

One of the most famous tourist traps in Kyoto, Japan, the venerable Kiyomizu-dera temple has jumped on the digital bandwagon, their solution is a credit-card sized charm. Printed on its surface are eight deity of good fortune. The image of deity actually hides a URL encoded with an embedded FPcode (Fine Picture code). This is a code system developed by Fujitsu [see our CEATEC video — Eds], an extension of the QR code which has become the de-facto system for Japanese K-tai terminals. 2D FPcode pattern utilizes a near-transparent color ink, and easily printed over the existing picture without spoiling it.

DoCoMo Picks Super 3G Vendors

DoCoMo has chosen Motorola Inc. and NEC Corp. to supply handsets for its so-called super 3G network, an industry source said. The source said Fujitsu Ltd. would supply the base stations for the network, which is an upgrade to DoCoMo’s existing 3G infrastructure. DoCoMo Technology Inc. President Kouta Kinoshita told a news conference earlier this week that the mobile operator had selected equipment vendors for the network in October, but he did not provide their names.

Bouygues Telecom Testing NFC

Bouygues Telecom is testing a travel card integrated into a mobile phone in a trial covering the entire Paris mass transit authority (RATP) and Transilien SNCF suburban transit network in the Paris region. The experiment is the fruit of a cooperative venture with Gemalto for the SIM cards, NEC for the mobile handsets and Inside Contactless for the NFC contactless components. Tests carried out by Bouygues Telecom and the RATP between July and October have already validated many technical aspects. Transilien SNCF has decided to join in the next phase of the trial, which will involve some 100 test customers over a three-month period.

KDDI Announces Digital Radio Services

KDDI announced it will add digital radio to its mobile-phone service as the company builds on attracting subscribers with its music download features. The service starts in early December, according to a release given at a press conference today. Users can listen to Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co.’s bilingual station live through their handsets, the statement said.