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editors

Mapping the Mobile Consumer Mind

Marketing initiatives targeting the mobile consumer must integrate communications and content in order to have the greatest impact, according to a study published this week by researchers at the International University of Japan. Based on the results of 30 in-depth interviews of mobile users in Japan and Indonesia, this research effort developed clearly defined “mental maps” which explain the ebb and flow of consumer perceptions of the mobile Internet. In fact, results show very few culturally specific differences between Japanese and Indonesian respondents, suggesting instead that international differences in usage of advanced mobile data are due to infrastructure differences and the overall structure of a country or region’s mobile value chain.

WAMO: Mobile Music Downloads Adding Video Content

WAMO: Mobile Music Downloads Adding Video ContentWarner Music Japan and KDDI Corp. have announced an agreement which will allow access to what is billed as the world’s first mobile music bundle: a package of audio, video, graphic and text content in a single, downloadable file. The service is available on au’s CDMA 1X WIN network and launched on 1 December with Sean Paul’s Za Trinity album. The partners’ press announcement [in Japanese] indicates a steady flow of new material in the pipeline for 2006. The music bundles are available on Warner Mobile – also known as ‘WAMO’ – which aims to allow club members to gain earlier-than-anywhere-else access to the label’s releases, artist interviews and live event schedules.

The downloadable ‘WAMO Packs’ include a variety of mobile music products such as videotones, mastertones and Flash screensavers and menus as part of a single download with the intention of letting customers customize their cell phone with their favorite artist. WAMO Packs also contain bonus material, such as video commentary from the artists, detailed information about the artists and their music, photos, cover art and links to web sites for additional information online.

This evolution in mobile music will come as no big surprise to those who attended the Mobile Monday Tokyo event at KDDI’s Designing Studio in June!

Mobile Cohesion and ubit Co-operate to Develop Mobile Content for Communities

Mobile Cohesion, the company that has pioneered the concept of partner, profit and performance focused relationship management solutions for the mobile industry, has announced a collaboration venture with leading content management company ubit from Japan. ubit has been focusing on the mobile internet since 1999 and its MS2 system is now serving more than 300 mobile sites worldwide, including Orange Group and Nikkei Business Press.

Omron Targets Global RFID Market

Omron Corporation, a $5.5 billion Japanese manufacturer of automation and sensing products, will invest $20 million worldwide over 2005 and 2006 as a first step in seizing a larger share of the U.S. and global RFID market. The company’s aggressive entry into the U.S. marketplace focuses on its RFID label inlay and reader products. Omron president and chief executive officer Hisao Sakuta, who has appointed himself as project leader, said “RFID is an important, global initiative which requires a large investment. I believe RFID could be a major growth engine for the company.”

Willcom Sees Strong Initial Sales

Willcom Sees Strong Initial Sales“Despite the high prices, there were huge line-ups waiting to buy the new Willcom PHSes,” said my Kiwi pal in an email last night. It looks like some of Willcom’s PHS phones appear to be selling well on the strength of flat-rate voice and data and handsets that are at least comparable to the high-end 3G cellular models from the Big Three carriers. Is this a hint of price destruction to come when the new licensees jump into the market in 2006?

“It normally takes about 20 minutes to get a new phone, but the wait for the new Willcom models on the first day of sales was over an hour and a half. A day or two later and the long lines have vanished,” added Keith Wilkinson, a long-time Japan hand and a keen watcher of all things electronic.

He was referring to the WX300K, WX310K and WX310SA, from Kyocera and Sanyo, as initially reported by WWJ in October, the first in a new series of PHS models. PHS is the shorter-range, non-cellular standard that has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity due to lower costs of usage and flat-rate pricing. According to Willcom, phones could be reserved starting on 11 November, and became or will become available in shops on the 18th (WX300K, silver and ochre), the 25th (WX310K, silver & pink; WX310SA, silver & red) and the 30th (WX310K, other color).

DoCoMo Announces New Investments

DoCoMo has announced plans to invest approx. $234 million in Japanese handset software companies Access and Aplix. Firming it’s position as the second largest investor in Access, DoCoMo will increase their current 7% holding to just over 11% for an estimated cost of $124 million. DoCoMo uses the company’s NetFront browser in most of its 3G FOMA handsets and Access recently acquired PalmSource. Another $110 million investment in Aplix will give DoCoMo the top shareholder in that software developer with nearly 18 percent. Applix is working with Sun Microsystems on the so-called Star Project to improve Java software control systems for mobile devices.

Trapeze Networks Opens Office in Tokyo

Trapeze Networks, the award winning provider of the wireless LAN (WLAN) Mobility System, today announced the opening of Trapeze Networks KK in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Toshikazu Tamada will drive the company’s new initiatives in Japan. As director of sales, Tamada-san will report to Neil Sundstrom, vice president of worldwide sales. Prior to joining Trapeze, Tamada was the country manager and representative director of Proxim KK. He has also been instrumental in opening Japanese markets for other US-based communications companies including: Avaya, Infosys, Sprint, Lucent Technologies, Comverse Technology and AT&T.

Texas Instruments and DoCoMo JV

Fulfilling a commitment made last year to jointly develop 3G solutions with NTT DoCoMo, Texas Instruments Inc. today announced it has sampled a cost-competitive, multi-mode UMTS chipset developed with NTT DoCoMo to serve the worldwide 3G handset market. Part of TI’s OMAP-Vox architecture, the new OMAPV2230 solution is an integrated UMTS dual-mode digital baseband processor and advanced applications processor based on TI’s high-performance OMAP 2 architecture, TI’s proven GSM/GPRS technology, and NTT DoCoMo’s established WCDMA technology.

KDDI: No Plan to Increase Subsidies

KDDI Corp., the second-biggest cell- phone company in Japan’s $71 billion industry, plans to add new subscribers without having to pay more incentives to retailers like rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Vodafone K.K., “We’ve no plans to pay more subsidies per handset to add users,” President Tadashi Onodera said in a Nov. 25 interview. “We don’t see a need in giving bigger discounts on handsets if our customers are satisfied with our services.” Japanese wireless operators pay commissions to retailers for each handset sold to encourage sales, the phones are sold below manufacturing costs to consumers as carriers make their money from monthly fees.

Index to Form TV Joint Venture

Five private television broadcasters have entered into final negotiations with Index Corp., which distributes content to mobile phone users, on forming a company to distribute sports information to Internet portal sites, according to sources close to the broadcasters. The new company would distribute preliminary reports and images of a wide range of sports including soccer, baseball and basketball to portal sites for access by personal computers and mobile phones, the sources said.