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DoCoMo's New CEO Meets the Press

June 25, 2004 October 20, 2023

DoCoMo's New CEO Meets the Press On Monday, 21 June, NTT DoCoMo’s newly minted President & CEO Masao Nakamura held his first press conference in Tokyo. Previously, Nakamura was an official of NTT Corp. in charge of personnel management. He was appointed as a managing director of NTT DoCoMo in 1998, and became the company’s senior executive vice president in 2002. He also held other prominent positions, such as executive manager of the Accounts and Finance Department, senior executive manager of the Mobile Multimedia Division and managing director of the Marketing Division. WWJ subscribers can view the entire 30-minute Q&A session and please note — in the spirit of these changing times — we have upgraded our video codecs in the hope of delivering an even better product to WWJ subscribers. Wow, all the recent mobile kaizen must be contagious! Full Program Run-time 34:16, also available in Real Player and Quick-Time formats.

The World's First Wireless IP Handset

June 25, 2004 September 30, 2023

Net-2Com Corporation and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. have jointly announced the development of the world’s first wireless IP mobile handset [image] capable of seamless switching between wireless LAN and public wireless networks. The prototype handset features built-in wireless LAN functions and enables free selection of public wireless networks through inserting various CompactFlash (CF) networking cards, allowing global use.

Toshiba's Mobile Methanol Fuel Cell

June 25, 2004 September 30, 2023

Toshiba Corporation has announced the prototype [image] of a highly compact direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that can be integrated into devices as small as digital audio players and wireless headsets for mobile phones. The new cell measures in at a compact 22 x 56 x 4.5mm (maximum of 9.1mm, for the fuel tank), and and weighs only 8.5g. It can power small hand held devices for up to 20 hours on a single 2cc charge of highly concentrated methanol.

i-mode Site Won Cannes Media Lion

June 25, 2004 September 30, 2023

Starcom Worldwide Japan won a golden lion at Cannes in the Best use of Internet/New Media category for the Vidal Sassoon Branding i-mode project. The ‘Become an Angel’ cellphone promotion was a game that ran over seven weeks as opposed to simply collecting points and was deemed more engaging as users got to design, build and download to keep, their own custom image.

Mobile Marketing: Not Just for Content

June 25, 2004 September 30, 2023

Today, WWJ’s Portable Reportable presents a mobile marketing case study involving Shizuoka Bank which used the opt-in “Message Free” free email marketing service on i-mode to grab new, younger customers for its “My Car Loan” campaign. Message Free is just one of the mobile marketing services on i-mode operated by D2 Communications on behalf of NTT DoCoMo. This case study is an excellent example of how a wide variety of consumer-facing companies, not just mobile content providers — like ring tone sites or screen image providers — are using the mobile channel for effective marketing via web, pull email, push email, and even interactive voice. Full program run-time: 4:31Portable Reportable audio updates are short, 3- to 5-minute news items in MP3 format. You can listen via PC or download and copy to your portable player for tomorrow morning’s commute. — Eds.

LG Exporting Tri-Band Phone to US

June 24, 2004 September 30, 2023

LG Electronics announced Thursday that it will provide its handsets to the largest GSM operator of the US, Cingular. According to LG Electronics, it will export Tri-band GPRS camera phone (L1200) that can provide roaming service between the US and Europe and super-small-sized dual band GPRS color phone (C1300).

DoCoMo Releases Premini i-mode Phone

June 24, 2004 July 3, 2024

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries announced today the July 1 nationwide release of the premini, [image] the smallest i-mode handset ever released, weighing just 69g and measuring only 90mm (height), 40mm (width) and 19.8mm (thickness). Prior to the launch, premini handsets will be displayed at four shops in Tokyo and Osaka from June 26 to 30. Get a peek at this tiny unit in our our video coverage of the Tokyo Business Show.

New Open Mobile Terminal Platform

June 24, 2004 September 30, 2023

A group of mobile operators announced yesterday their intention to define widely accepted requirements for an open mobile terminal platform (“OMTP”). The founding members of this initiative are mmO2, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SMART Communications, Telefónica Móviles, TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), T-Mobile and Vodafone. These members will establish a new company based in London, OMTP Limited (“the OMTP group”), to achieve their goals. It’s about time.

Vodafone's ex-CEO: The Pre-Postmortem

June 23, 2004 October 23, 2023

The news out of Vodafone today is that Darryl E. Green, CEO of both Vodafone KK and Vodafone Holdings KK, has resigned for personal reasons. An interim CEO has been appointed while the companies search for a permanent replacement. Green’s departure is not unrelated, we suspect, to Vodafone’s recent grim Japanese financial results. While it’s too early for a full postmortem, it might help bring perspective to the situation to point out a number of successes that Vodafone achieved on Green’s watch.

Vodafone KK Announces New CEO

June 23, 2004 September 30, 2023

Vodafone Holdings KK and Vodafone KK jointly announce that their respective boards of directors today appointed Dr. J. Brian Clark as President and Chief Executive Officer and Representative Executive Officer of the two companies, effective immediately. Dr. Clark will assume the responsibilities of Mr. Darryl E. Green, who has resigned as Director, President and Chief Executive Officer and Representative Executive Officer of the two companies for personal reasons.