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KDDI Announces the Merger of Four Subsidiaries, Launch of 'KDDI Network & Soluti

KDDI has announced the impending merger of four subsidiaries to form KDDI Network & Solutions Inc., to strengthen management efficiency and improve response times for corporate customers requiring broad and comprehensive solutions. The new company is expected to become a pillar of the corporate fixed communications business for the KDDI group. K-Solutions Inc., KCOM Corporation, OSI Plus Corporation, and KDDI Msat, Inc. will be merged into the new company on October 1, 2004, to strengthen the KDDI Group base and enable greater corporate-wide deployment in the communications service market where the Group expects an intensification of competition in the future.

Cellphones to Track Farm Produce

Japan’s farm ministry will begin a project in fiscal 2005 to create a tracing system enabling consumers to know the “history” of farm products by means of mobile phones, ministry officials said Wednesday. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries plans to complete the system, which will cover half of agricultural products, in three years, they said.

Vindigo Studios Acquired by For-Side.com Co., Ltd.

Vindigo Studios, one of the best-known publishers of consumer applications for mobile devices, today announced it has been acquired by For-Side.com Co. Ltd., a leading worldwide mobile content provider based in Japan. The Vindigo Studios acquisition was completed earlier this month for $36.5 million. Through the all cash agreement, Vindigo Studios will continue to operate as an independent entity led by existing management and will continue to market itself under the Vindigo Studios brand.

Vodafone Japan Appoints New CEO

Vodafone Holdings K.K. and Vodafone K.K. jointly announce that their respective Boards of Directors today selected Shiro Tsuda to be the next President and Chief Executive Officer and Representative Executive Officer of Vodafone K.K. as of 1 December. [.pdf]. Effective immediately, Shiro Tsuda will act as an Executive Officer for Vodafone Holdings K.K. and Vodafone K.K. until he assumes his position. Shiro Tsuda was formerly Senior Executive Vice President at NTT DoCoMo, Inc.

CEATEC JAPAN 2004: Ushering in the Ubiquitous Society

CEATEC JAPAN 2004 was officially launched at a press conference held in Tokyo, attended by some 130 members of the press. Shigeru Ikeda, president of the Communications and Information network Association of Japan (CIAJ), opened the conference with a greeting on behalf of the three sponsoring organizations. Jiro Iriye, director of the CEATEC JAPAN Management Office, then provided an overview of this year’s exhibition, which is rapidly becoming a major international event. CEATEC JAPAN 2004 will be held in the 5-day period from October 5 to October 9. The theme of this year’s event is “Ubiquitous Society–Digitally Enriched, Accelerating to the Next Stage.”

Subways Disable Cell Phone Service

Japan’s suffering subway and train commuters may welcome this news although it might be a bit heart-stopping for communications (as opposed to people) carriers. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the transportation bureau of Nagoya city government has decided to relocate relay base stations that were installed near the ticket gates at the 72 below-ground stations in the 80-station system so that commuters cannot use their mobile phones on trains and in stations.

Fuel-Cell Mobile Phones for Digital TV

KDDI has teamed up with Japanese mobile-phone manufacturers to develop a fuel-cell-powered phone equipped with functions for receiving terrestrial digital TV broadcasting. KDDI has signed joint development agreements with Toshiba and Hitachi. Although the two manufacturers will develop fuel-cell-equipped mobile phones separately on the basis of their own technology, they will use the same user interface that includes the fuel inlet.

Mobinet Index 2004

The latest Mobinet study from A.T. Kearney reports that 41 percent of the world’s wireless phone users expect to be regular or heavy users of data services by 2005. The Index looks at current and planned usage of wireless data services such as mobile email, games, music downloads, photo messaging, and news updates and the strong user demand represents a whopping 200-percent increase over the past year. Have mobile data services finally reached a tipping point?

Openwave to Support i-mode Phone

Openwave Systems Inc., the leading provider of open software products and services for the communications industry, today announced a collaborative agreement with SAGEM, a major international player in telecommunications manufacturing, to deliver the SG321i, one of the first i-mode-compliant phones to be produced by a European manufacturer, to Bouygues Telecom, a French mobile operator acknowledged for its policy of innovation. The phone will use the Openwave Mail Client for i-mode and Openwave Mobile Browser V.7 (V7 Browser), the flagship application from Openwave Phone Suite Version 7.

Samsung: World's First Amorphous Silicon 2.6-inch VGA LCD

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, the world’s largest provider of TFT-LCD display panels, today announced the world’s first a-Si (Amorphous Silicon) 2.6-inch TFT LCD with VGA image quality. Using a-Si technology, mobile phone displays are now capable of displaying the same VGA format found on notebook PCs and desktop monitors. With almost seven times the resolution of a 42-inch high-definition LCD TV at 300 pixels per inch (ppi), an a-Si enabled mobile phone can be used as a high quality mobile TV.