Hong Kong’s SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings announced Tuesday it will roll out its 3G mobile phone network in December, making it the territory’s second provider of 3G services. “It is clear indication of our commitment … to deliver seamless, advanced and faster multimedia services,” SmarTone Chief Executive Douglas Li said at a news conference to announce the December launch of 3G services.
Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips, said Tuesday that it has developed the world’s highest-capacity smart cards with wide-ranging applications for high-end mobile phones. The company said it had introduced the three memory cards with smart-card functions at an industry trade fair, Cartes Paris 2004, with the aim of becoming the world’s biggest smart-card vendor.
Beijing DG Telecom, a mobile applications and infrastructure provider, has announced an agreement with TruVideo, a Berkeley, California, based company specializing in mobile video solutions, to provide mobile video applications for the greater Chinese mobile market. Freeverse Partners, a Tokyo based company specializing in assisting foreign companies in Asian mobile business development and strategy, facilitated the partnership.
Kyodo News, 3 November 2004
Police caught 3,645 drivers using cell phones while driving Monday, the day the revised Road Traffic Law came into effect in Japan, the National Police Agency said Tuesday. Under the law, drivers are fined if caught using a cell phone held in their hand — including for conversation, messaging and reading the screen — while driving.
MontaVista Software and NEC Electronics Corporation have announced a strategic partnership to integrate and optimize MontaVista Linux for NEC Electronics’ embedded hardware platforms. Through the partnership, MontaVista will provide MontaVista Linux platforms to NEC Electronics for use in its mobile phone, digital consumer and car navigation solutions. The integration of technologies will enable device manufacturers to build high quality products, with lower total development costs and reduced time-to-market.
KDDI brings a cool synchronicity of art and technology to a new mobile handset, the Talby. Conceptualized by acclaimed Australian designer Marc Newson, it weighs in at just 79 grams and a mere 13 mm thick. Though you might readily file it with other vanity handsets, it’s not just a pretty face. Arguably the lightest handset yet (except perhaps for DoCoMo’s tiny Premini at 69 grams but we’re talking about cell phones you can actually use), its ultra-slim, ultra-flat design is achieved in part by placing the antenna internally.
Talby also has a high-resolution QVGA LCD screen, Flash, 2-D barcode reader, camera, is compatible with KDDI’s EZAppli BREW applications and their advanced EZNavi Walk navigation system, plus other bells and whistles — but the “phone as fashion accessory” is definitely part of the message here.
Sony Computer Entertainment today announced that it will release the Play Station Portable in Japan on December 12. The next-generation handheld gaming device will be priced at 19,800 yen ($185). WWJ scooped the Web — and almost crashed our server — with our September video report here.
Korea’s Samsung Electronics has raised the bar on high-resolution camera phones so far that other handset makers are going to need a ladder to scramble over. The company’s new SCH-S250 handset boasts five (Count ’em: 5!) megapixels. To date, three megapixels has been the industry top — and available in only a very few Korean and Japanese handsets (which hit retail shelves just several short months ago).
Last week, Hiroyuki Ida, from Mobile Broadcasting Corp.’s marketing department, confirmed the satellite-to-mobile broadcaster’s subscriber targets. The company is Japan’s (and, as far as we know, the world’s) first to offer digital audio, video, and data services to dedicated consumer terminals via satellite. Commercial services started on October 20. We’ll have more coverage in the near future.
NTT DoCoMo announced that Japanese customers of its 3G FOMA-based WORLD CALL service will be able to exchange videophone calls with users of compatible 3G/W-CDMA services offered by Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) beginning 2 November 2004. SingTel is currently offering 3G services on a trial basis, so DoCoMo customers initially will be able to place videophone calls to SingTel users participating in the trial.
