DoCoMo has just released it’s unaudited results [.PDF Here] for the full 2008 fiscal year, which closed on 31 March. While operating revenues were down 5.6% YoY – with operating expenses trimmed by 7.3% – the bottom line net income was off 3.9% compared to 2007. The company has also announced a series of new initiatives, in several fields of interest, more details after the jump.
The Transport and Communications Minister of Peru, Enrique Cornejo, has announced the country will officially adopt ISDB-T, the Japanese terrestrial digital TV system of technology. Cornejo made the announcement after a meeting between the head of State, Alan García, and the Prime Minister of Japan envoy, Shunichi Yamaguchi, at the Government Palace. Japan will carry out several programs to assist in the implementation of digital television in Peru, such as human resource training and economic cooperation.
The always-on Jean Snow posted an interesting tip on a groovy style QR Code campaign running for Louis Vuitton. Produced by SET, and designed by Takashi Murakami, this is definitely a level-up from the good old black & white standard. While we have covered several unusual 2D barcode offerings in the past, such as Design QR and Ishinokoe, this next-gen full color version certainly raises the bar.
We knew they would do it finally eventually. GMAP, with Enfour, have launched a fantastic bi-lingual Tokyo map application on the iTunes App Store. Find!TOKYO is perhaps ‘the’ most comprehensive location tool available for the metropolis, featuring thousands of custom designed maps for the iPhone and iPod touch screen.
The application includes fully scalable Tokyo train/subway map, interior maps of major stations, area maps and a detailed directory with maps of hotels, cinemas, parks, temples, shrines, etc. Along with the maps, many locations are tagged with photos and relevant information for use as visual guides or to learn about the locations. The content is stored inside the application so there is no need to access the Internet; ideal for the iTouch and overeas iPhone users.
There is a 600 yen one-time fee for Find!TOKYO, which includes future version updates, so you’ll never get lost in Tokyo again.. a killer deal at twice the price!
KDDI and Sharp have announced the world first debut of a waterproof solar panel powered handset will be available for sale in Japan as of early June. The eco-friendly design will enable an estimated 1 minute of voice usage for every 10 minutes of charging time, under ideal conditions, and appears set to be the first of several innovative models planned for future release. The code-named Voyage, Soup and Gem concept designs are featured Here.
Hitachi has announced the beta release of GazoPa, an iPhone app which allows users to search for similar images on the web by uploading any photo captured with camera on iPhone, will be available free at Apple’s iPhone App Store. This makes it possible for users to search for images similar to the items in front of them since GazoPa uses image features such as color and/or shape, users can look for images without typing any words.
