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Ecrio Announces $3M Investment for 3G Mobile Software

Ecrio Inc., a global provider of advanced software for mobile phones, today announced that Diamond Capital Company Ltd., the venture capital arm of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc., has invested $3M in its new strategic investment round. They join current investors Nexit Ventures, Cypress Ventures/CIR Ventures and CDB Webtech. “We are very impressed by Ecrio’s technology and the traction the company has generated in the mobile phone software market for advanced 3G services,” said Mr. Tetsuya Mori, Director of Diamond Capital.

On the Cutting Edge of Wireless

Pondering the future of wireless? Look to the Asia-Pacific region, home to some of the most advanced networks in the world. Japan and South Korea, long in the vanguard of mobile phone service, will soon be joined by Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, thanks to recent 3G network launches. Less mature wireless markets such as China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia also abound in the Asia-Pacific region, and subscriber growth will be far brisker in these countries than in either advanced or mature markets.

Panasonic Mobile Bullish on China

Japan’s Panasonic Mobile Communications aims to have a two-digit share of China’s mobile phone market by the end of the year. The firm is betting on better tie-ups with Chinese mobile operators and a focus on the country’s high-end handsets to achieve its goal. “We expect to grab a 10 per cent share of China’s handset market in 2005,” said Taro Itakura, managing director of Panasonic Mobile Communications’ China operations.

New Japan Alliance for RFID

Internet Initiative Japan Inc., IIJ Technology Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Japan, Ltd., have formed a business alliance for the commercialization of an RFID platform using networks based on international RFID standards called the EPCglobal Network. Through this alliance, the three companies will offer global real-time SCM (supply chain management), which can be put to practical use for intercompany and international logistics.

Opera Browser for KDDI's Casio W31CA

Opera Software has announced that the Opera browser will be shipped on the new Casio W31CA from KDDI, Japan’s largest 3G operator. The Casio W31CA [ .jpg image ] is a multi-functional 3G phone with a large 2.6 inch QVGA display, a 3.2 megapixel camera and full Internet and E-mail capabilities. Opera is currently offered on four KDDI handsets, with more to come. The Casio W31CA is available in Japan as of July 29, 2005

Technorati Creates Mobile Version

Technorati Creates Mobile Version

The good folks over at Technorati just announced that they have created a special version especially for handhelds and mobile phones. If you’ve got a Web-enabled mobile device, just visit m.technorati.com for a Technorati experience designed especially for small screens. Take it with you wherever you go for the latest on what bloggers are talking about… right now.

Successful WLAN to 3G Trials

Ericsson and the Softbank Group said they have succeeded in a trial experiment for seamless handover of circuit-switched voice data using an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) on a 3G mobile network and wireless local area network (WLAN). This live demonstration was executed on a mobile WCDMA 3G network operated in the 1.7-GHz radio band.

New DoCoMo 902i Series 3G FOMA Handsets Coming Soon

New DoCoMo 902i Series 3G FOMA Handsets Coming Soon?Digging deep into Japan’s blog space over ice coffee this morning turned up interesting rumors (and some detailed specs) concerning DoCoMo’s next generation of 3G FOMA handsets. The dog days of summer is about the right time for an announcement from Big D’s Sanno Park Tower HQ on models slated for release sometime in Q3 and we’re willing to bet that these rumors may just have some substance behind them. While WWJ subscribers can log in for the full juice, we will say up front that more than one blog has mentioned 10 new models coming from all the usual suspects (NEC, Panasonic, Fujitsu, Sharp, etc.) plus a couple foreign-made entries for what should be called the 902i-series.

JR & DoCoMo Co-Op for Mobile Wallets

East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (DoCoMo) announced today that they have signed a basic agreement to discuss joint development and management of common infrastructure for JR East’s Suica e-money and DoCoMo’s upcoming “Osaifu-Keitai” credit card service, both based on FeliCa smart card technology. [Ed’s note: They announced the tie-up at this presser back in March]

JR East, NTT DoCoMo, and NTT DATA to Jointly Promote Suica e-Money Service

East Japan Railway Company (JR East), NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (DoCoMo) and NTT DATA Corporation (NTT DATA) announced today that they have agreed to jointly promote JR East’s Suica® e-money service. Through this joint venture, JR East aims to expand the number of retail shops and companies accepting Suica e-money, which will make it more convenient and attract more users. For DoCoMo, the expansion of the Suica e-money service will encourage use of its “Osaifu-Keitai” mobile phones equipped with contactless IC cards.