SOFTBANK CORP. and Vodafone K.K. today announce they have made decisions regarding current services based on customer feedback, following the announcement that Vodafone K.K. will enter the SoftBank Group, after completion of the ongoing tender offer bid launched by the SoftBank Group. Customer centers and Vodafone shops received a high number of customer inquiries after this announcement.
KDDI said on Thursday it was in talks with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to set up a new bank that would allow shoppers to pay for their purchases electronically using their mobile phones. Among the possible options, KDDI’s “au” brand mobile phone customers would be able to have bank accounts linked to their phones and use the devices to spend money up to the account balance, a KDDI spokesman said.
NEC Telecom, one of the only really active Japanese handset makers in China, regards China as its most important overseas market amid personnel changes and the retreat of other Japanese firms. So says Ken Lu, the new president of NEC Telecom China. “Global expansion is a focus for NEC Telecom in the world and China is a priority in that expansion,” said Lu yesterday.
Vodafone K.K. has announced that it will commence nationwide sales this weekend of the Vodafone 904SH. This 3G handset by Sharp features the industry’s first VGA liquid crystal display, four times the resolution of current QVGA, making it possible to reproduce visuals and render small characters with more vividness and clarity than before. The model will also support new services and features, such as Face Recognition for enhanced privacy protection, Bluetooth and their Motion Control Sensor capable of measuring handset posture in all directions in 3D a popular function for mobile gaming.
KDDI has announced it will introduce a new “WIN DATA CARD” sevice, that will enable wireless data communication though the corporate intranet, at a fixed-rate price. The service will offer packet transmission via the Intranet of an enterprise customer for remote users via “CDMA Packet Access” using KDDI’s W01K data card. Targeted at corporate clients who want to facilitate budget management of their communication charges each month the service will be priced at 8,800 jpy plus tax will be available starting August this year.
Tokyo taxi passengers will soon be able to start paying for their rides using electronic money, three taxi fleet operators said this week. The deals, which involve BitWallet Inc.’s Edy system and East Japan Railway Co.’s (JR East) Suica system, are the latest in a string of agreements from major retailers to accept e-money in lieu of conventional cash for purchases and services. They come as technology for the systems, which are both based on Sony Corp.’s Felica touch-and-go proximity smart card platform.
Total domestic shipments of mobile phone handsets in February surged 16.0 pct from a year earlier to 5.02 mln units, data from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) showed. Shipments of PHS handsets surged 172.2 pct to 157,000 units, rising for the 13th straight month, according to the report.
Mobile chipset developer for WiMAX technologies Beceem Communications received an investment from DoCoMo Capital, the company announced today. The company develops solutions incorporating advanced wireless communication techniques based on IEEE 802.16 standards recommendations, playing an integral role in the WiMAX environment, working with both terminal and base station OEMs on early integration and interoperability testing.
Omron has announced that RFID inlay manufacturing capacity will be increased to support production of more than 250 million inlays per year at its Minakuchi factory in Shiga, Japan. This factory location was chosen to take advantage of its more than 30 years of experience with semiconductors and class 10000 clean room standards. The company will continue to add inlay production capacity to further increase annual production above 350 million inlays within the next 12 months.
Axalto today announced that it has launched the first third generation CDMA User Identification Module (UIM) commercial card in Japan with KDDI, one of Japan’s leading mobile service providers. The Axalto cards are designed to work together with KDDI’s CDMA 2000 EV-DO third generation mobile handsets. KDDI subscribers can now access both GSM and CDMA networks with just one card and users will be able to use the same telephone number both domestically and internationally.
