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Vodafone Spain Selects Dilithium Networks 3G Multimedia Gateway

Dilithium Networks, the leading supplier of 3G multimedia solutions, announced today that Vodafone Spain has selected the DTG 2000 multimedia gateway for delivery of enhanced 3G services across mobile and IP networks. The system will extend the capabilities of Vodafone Spain’s 3G mobile network and enable seamless real time conversational video telephony calling to personal computers over broadband networks. The advent of 3G video telephony services are an important differentiator to 3G operators planning to migrate their user base to higher revenue generating services. The DTG 2000 performs all the necessary negotiation and mediation between network entities and client devices to allow effortless communications across network boundaries.

New Electronics Megastore In Akihabara

Yodobashi Camera Co. opened one of the country’s largest consumer appliance stores in Tokyo’s Akihabara district on Friday. Located in a nine-story building, “Multimedia Akiba” features 23,800 sq. meters of sales space for some 600,000 items, including home appliances, computers and toys (and cell phones — Ed.)

Asia Technology and Telecom Summit

Top executives and analysts from around the world are visiting the Reuters Tokyo bureau, 13-16 September, for the Asia Technology and Telecoms Summit. Reuters’ clients and visitors will be able to read a series of exclusive articles about leaders of industry. They also have posted some interesting video interviews with DoCoMo, Vodafone and new mobile entry eAccess.

3G Industry Achievement Awards

The CDMA Development Group (CDG) have announced the winners of the 2005 3G CDMA Industry Achievement Awards, which were presented at the 3G CDMA Americas Congress. “The CDMA community is leading in the delivery of 3G wireless services across the globe and there are many accomplishments to recognize,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “The CDG congratulates all recipients of this year’s awards and applauds their contributions to making CDMA2000 the technology of choice for 3G.”

i-mode Launches in Russia

NTT DoCoMo just announced that Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), NTT DoCoMo’s partner in Russia, began offering i-mode services in the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas as of today. Services will eventually be expanded to other business areas of MTS. Russia’s i-mode is being offered via MTS’s GPRS network and represents the twelfth global market for i-mode, following Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia and Israel (in order of introduction). MTS is Russia’s leading mobile operator both in terms of subscribers and profitability, according to the DoCoMo press release.

DoCoMo to Offer Info-Capture FeliCa

DoCoMo has announced plans to offer an information-capture function, called ToruCa, in their new “Osaifu-Keitai” (Wallet-Phone) compatible handsets to be released this winter. ToruCa will enable users to obtain information by simply waving their phones in front of dedicated reader/writers installed at restaurants, theaters, music stores, arcades and other establishments. For example, when a user buys a CD at a store using the “Osaifu-Keitai,” they can simply wave their DoCoMo phone in front of the store’s reader/writer to retrieve extra information about the CD, artist, etc., and possibly even a promotional coupon offered by the artist’s recording label.

Japan Hosts International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing

Japan Hosts International Conference on Ubiquitous ComputingThe Seventh International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2005, was held September 11-14 in Tokyo, Japan. This annual conference provides the premier forum in which to present research results in all areas relating to the design, implementation, application and evaluation of ubiquitous computing technologies, bringing together leading researchers from a variety of disciplines and geographical areas who are exploring the frontiers of computing as it moves beyond the desktop and becomes increasingly interwoven into our mobile lives.

Organized to provide a productive forum in which international researchers and members of the industry can discuss key issues and future uses of ubiquitous computing that create compelling, and socially beneficial experiences, and to facilitate an exchange of ideas that will allow ubiquitous applications to break out of their current “niche” and into the mainstream.

Japan Telecommunication Equipment Production and Trade Figures

Japan Telecommunication Equipment Production and Trade FiguresThe Communications and Information Network Association of Japan has just released a report detailing the overall value of domestic production for Q1-05. It quoted totals for the April–June quarter at 620.3 billion yen, a reduction of 2.4 percent over the same quarter last year. The total value of production excluding cellular phones was 222.4 billion yen, a growth of 2.5 percent year on year. While network equipment and parts, such as routers and hubs, recorded healthy figures due to the switch to IP and broadband networks, cellular phones, which make up two-thirds of the market, dragged the total figure down, resulting in a slight reduction overall.

The production figure for cellular phones decreased by 5.4 percent over the same quarter of the previous year to 392.5 billion yen, resulting from fewer new subscribers and a negative rebound from the growth spurt in the January–March 2005 quarter. The July–September quarter is expected to return to positive growth with growing demand for IP network equipment and upgrade sales in conjunction with the expansion of 3G cellular phone services.

Locked into the Mobile Loop

Locked out of your Tokyo apartment? Forget the locksmith; call the phone company. Alpha Corp. has come up with a door locking/unlocking system that works with DoCoMo’s FeliCa IC card-equipped mobile phones. Similar systems have been around for several years, but this all-in-one door handle and locking unit can be installed on any existing entry without any special wiring. Previously mobile-phone activated locks were only available on new hot-wired apartment buildings. An extra subscription service even allows owners to check over their mobile if doors are locked or not (see also: Mobile FeliCa Trial Launch: Video Report from Dec. 2003).

Wearable Wireless: Dressed to Annoy

Excuse me, could you turn the volume on your jacket down please? Clothing manufacturer Goldwin has loaded flat-panel speakers right into their new line of snowboarding jackets. Grab some air — headphone free. Jack in directly to your MP3 player, choose your tunes and screen your mobile phone calls through the remote control unit that attaches to the sleeve. The Communication Concert jackets come in three styles. Costs start from 67,000 yen (approx. US$610).