<span class="vcard">editors</span>
editors

Keitai by COACH via KDDI

Keitai by COACH Via KDDICoach and KDDI have announced they will offer limited edition COACH branded handsets – 1,941 units available, based on the company being founded in 1941 – from December. These models are produced by SonyEricsson using the Full-Change skin styling features with a focus not only on exterior but also the main menu and standby screen. It should also be noted that – at least from what we can tell – the retail price of, not suprisingly, 19,041jpy (about $200usd) is only for the accessories. So clients will need to buy the main handset – at open market price – as well thank-you very much. Here’s to betting they sell-out in a heartbeat!

Nokia To Launch MVNO in Japan

Finnish cell phone manufacturer Nokia will start its own cellphone service in Japan as early as February 2009 according to this article on the Yomiuri Shimbun. Apparently the Finnish manufacturing giant is rumored to run service on the Docomo network, although it was widely reported this summer they would go with SoftBank, for it’s luxury Vertu handset lineup.

Softbank Mobile Joins Symbian Foundation

The initial board members of the Symbian Foundation welcomed the latest supporters of the initiative at the interim Steering Group meeting in Tokyo this week. This announcement [pdf] includes support for the Symbian Foundation plans from 7 more companies; Borqs, Comarch, HiQ, Kanrikougaku Kenkyusho Ltd. (K3), L&T Infotech, Renesas Technology Corp. and SoftBank Mobile Corp. who add their endorsements to the 52 other companies already announced.

DoCoMo Preps for 2009 Android Launch

DoCoMo is gearing up for launch of the Google phone in 2009 according to company officials. The Nikkei said Wednesday South Korea’s KT Freetel is also involved in the DoCoMo-Google project but the official said nothing had been decided on potential partners. DoCoMo has a 10 percent stake in KT Freetel. The daily also said the new Google phone would come with a keyboard and a touch-panel display and be some 20 percent cheaper than currently available cellphones.

DoCoMo to Acquire Stake in Tata

According to this post on Bloomberg a few hours ago, DoCoMo is preparing to announce they will take a stake in Tata Teleservices. A company official, who asked not to be identified, is quoted as stating “The board approved the investment today” but declined to provide the size of investment, which the Nikkei Net Interactive site reported at 260 billion yen ($2.7 billion) for a 26 percent stake. If this happens – which seems quite possible – it would represent their largest overseas investment since the AT&T adventure back in 2000. This could be rather interesting 😎 Update: It’s Official

DoCoMo Rolls with 22 New Handsets

DoCoMo Rolls with 22 New HandsetsWith all guns blazing market leader NTT DoCoMo took the wraps off their next-generation series of handsets at a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon, watch the full event video (in English) and/or review the individual offerings via the press release . The company has officially marked it’s shift from the legacy lineup of mainly 90xi and 70xi series handsets – currently 906i and 706i – in an effort to achieve new growth, as was recently outlined. The introduction of a new, although still somewhat confusing, 0xA-series numbering scheme has models targeted at four main consumer segments.

With (hopefully) something for everyone bundled into this latest line-up, including the introduction of i-Conceirge and i-Widgets, the first wave starts hitting the store shelves in December with several models coming along in the first few months of 2009. Meanwhile, you can always check-out the fancy Flash Gallery for all the imagery. What a week, between the three main operators we have seen a total of 45 new handset models for the coming season!