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Japan Launches (Big) Kizuna Satellite

KIZUNA (WINDS) was recently launched from the Tanegashima Space Center with the goal to establish the world’s most advanced information and telecommunications network. It will enable high-speed, large-volume data transmission, allowing ultra-fast domestic and international Internet-based communications with an expected network speed and capacity much higher than anything achieved previously, according to the JAXA announcement. The proposed system aims for a maximum speed of 155Mbps downlink and 6Mbps uplink for households with 45-centimetre dish, and ultra-high speed 1.2 Gbps connection for offices with five-meter antennas.

HTC Announces Titan II for eMobile

HTC has just confirmed [.pdf in Japanese] the introduction of their HTC TyTN II – or Titan Two – which will become available for sale in Japan on Friday, March 28, 2008 via eMobile, under the product name “S11HT (EMONSTER)”. The HTC TyTN II will be the first device from eMobile supporting broadband voice services and this handset is the eighth model, including designs scheduled for future release, from the HTC lineup to appear in Japan.

Pocket Film Festival Opens in Japan

The Pocket Film Festival in Japan, showing movies made entirely on mobile phone cameras, kicked-off today in Yokohama. Forty-eight films, chosen from more than 400 entries from 18 countries — including Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea and Germany — will screen in competition at the weekend event, organized by the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. The competition has two categories, one for films to be shown on regular screens and the other for films to be viewed on phones. The winning film will receive 500,000 yen (US$4,500).

Alcatel-Lucent and NEC Announce JV

Alcatel-Lucent and NEC announced the start of a broad collaboration to market advanced end-to-end communications solutions. Alcatel-Lucent and NEC have decided to form a joint venture that will focus on the development of Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless broadband access solutions. Through this joint development effort, the two companies intend to accelerate the availability of next-generation wireless solutions.

KDDI Introduces AU Beauty Portal for Women

KDDI and Mediba have announced [in Japanese] a new fixed/ mobile portal called “Au one beauty” with useful information targeted at female users. The service, searchable anytime and anywhere will provide; popular cosmetic ranking, spa and esthetics salon suggestions along with famous beauty analyst articles to answer needs of women who “want to become beautiful” all offered free of charge.

SoftBank Mobile White Plan Exceeds 11M

SoftBank Mobile announced that the number of applications for thier popular White Plan has exceeded 11 million on February 8, 2008. The achievement comes approximately a month and a half after surpassing the 10 million mark on December 22, 2007. As a discount service for White Plan customers, SBM introduced Double White and White Plan Family Discount 24 which have also been well received by customers.