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DoCoMo Strikes Back with 905i-Series

November 2, 2007 October 20, 2023

DoCoMo Strikes Back with 905i-Series Domestic market incumbant NTT DoCoMo came out with all guns blazing during their press conference at the Grand Park Hyatt in Tokyo on November 1st. For the first time ever they combined the launch for both of their upcoming 700 and 900 series models – a record 23 handsets unveiled at once – and the announcement included several new service offerings as well. Marking another notable difference from previous line-up introductions was the absence of Natsuno-san, famed ‘father of i-mode’ and always energetic MC, from the stage.

The companies flag-ship 905i-series included 10 models which will all come fully loaded with high-speed HSDPA, 1Seg digitial-tv, DCMX m-commerce, GPS, 2in1 dual-sim identity and enabled with GSM chipsets to allow global roaming complete with voice-to-text translation capabilities for English, Chinese and Japanese. Further enhancements in handset design include increased multi-media applications in motion sensor gaming, flat-rate music subscriptions and i-motion videos along with updated i-area mapping and cell broadcast emergency announcement services and Flash Lite 3 pre-installed all coming as standard features across the board.

Kyocera Pilots Inside Contactless NFC

October 31, 2007 September 30, 2023

Kyocera Wireless and INSIDE Contactless have announced a global collaboration to integrate the INSIDE Contactless NFC solution for mobile payments in select prototype Kyocera mobile phones. As part of the collaboration, Kyocera will build NFC-enabled models enhanced with MicroRead, allowing the technology to be used in various banking pilot projects and initial adoption globally.

IPMobile Files for Bankruptcy

October 30, 2007 September 30, 2023

IT Media is reporting that IPMobile applied to the Tokyo District Court for voluntary bankruptcy today. The article states that their wireless business license was returned to the Telecommunications Ministry at the same time and indicates the company debt is about 900 million yen with 110 creditors.

Fujitsu to Spin-Off Handset Manufacturing

October 30, 2007 September 30, 2023

According to this report Fujitsu has announced that it will spin-off its mobile phone manufacturing and service divisions and consolidate the operations into Fujitsu Mobile-phone Products Ltd, a new subsidiary to be established January 2008. The consolidation is expected to improve operational efficiency and, in turn, the cost competitiveness of Fujitsu mobile phones.

Taito Unveils Air Guitar for Mobile Phones

October 30, 2007 September 30, 2023

Talk about Mega Games, wish we had seen this at TGS in Sept., Taito has announced it will release a motion sensitive music application for DoCoMo 904i-series handsets (D904i excluded) in December. Their so-called “Intuition Band” game also makes use of the built-in camera sensor and a/v output allowing ‘players’ to create their very own mobile music! It will apparently also do other instruments, such as drum tracks (not sure about vocals?), and the company will be offering a free trial version via the i-mode menu from early November.

Location Based Temp. Work Force

October 30, 2007 September 30, 2023

LocationValue is running an interesting LBS play called Otetsudai (helper) Networks, a new service which enables people looking for temp. work to establish a profile listing their skills and download a GPS location reading app. to their mobile phone. Employers who need someone for a few hours can just send the request to Otetsudai Networks and within minutes, they will have a list of people who might be available. The list shows what each person is qualified for, how others have rated their work and exactly how far away they are.