Intel Corp’s Japanese unit said on Thursday it expected to supply a chip that combines communications, software applications and memory functions in a single piece of silicon for use in NTT DoCoMo Inc’s 3G phones as early as the end of 2004. The new chip, which is expected to be cheaper, more energy efficient and occupy less space than the separate chips currently used in 3G mobile phones.
Mascot Capsule Inc., a division of HI Corporation of Japan, today announced that theindustry-standard Mascot Capsule Micro3D Engine, currently installed in over30 million handsets worldwide, is now optimized and available for the ATITechnologies’ IMAGEON 2300 co-processor for ultra-high performance mobile3D applications. Now supporting both the OpenGL ES and the J2ME Mobile3D Graphics standards (JSR-184), Mascot Capsule is the most widely adoptedgraphics platform for mobile applications and content.
Lucent Technologies announced a series of agreements with China Unicom and China Telecom with total contract values of more than $350 million. The agreements cover virtually the entire range of Lucent’s next-generation network offerings and services that are designed to accelerate the smooth evolution to packet networks as well as enabling the delivery of advanced multimedia communications services. Lucent will deliver solutions that lay the foundation for Internet protocol (IP) voice and data services such as high-speed mobile data access, video-on-demand and IP Centrex services.
China United Telecommunications Corp. (China Unicom), one of the largest wireless network operators in the world, has awarded the Phase III expansion of its Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1X networks and upgrading of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks in the capital city and 12 leading provinces of China to Motorola’s Global Telecom Solutions Sector (GTSS), a leader in integrated communications solutions. The CDMA2000 1X Phase III Expansion Project Confirms Motorola as Biggest Network Vendor to World’s Third Largest Mobile Network Operator.
Tune in for a WWJ exclusive year-end interview with IDC Japan Communication Research Division’s Senior Analyst Michito (Mitch) Kimura. In this video program, Kimura, a veteran IDC analyst, casts his eyes on the ups and downs over the last year in the world of wireless and takes a look at prospects for 2004. He details the strategy at Japan’s three carriers, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Vodafone, and offers his view on the prospects for Japan’s ever-surging content business. Kimura-san also gave us his perspective on the continued evolution of 3G, handset replacement cycles, and – a favorite topic of ours – Japan’s first packet pricing war.
The mobile phone industry will sell 150 million smartphones in 2008, 15 times this year’s sales, with the Symbian OS leading the smartphone operating system market, according to a report published this week by ABI Research. The report projects strong growth for high-end mobile phones, with Microsoft’s market share trailing behind Symbian, and Linux bringing up the rear.
The safety of cellphones has been called into question, again. This time the scientific community is paying very close attention. A Swedish study links mobile phones to brain damage, in rats, anyway. The findings have re-ignited a longstanding debate among scientists and cellphone manufacturers over cellphone safety.
KDDI has taken more than 50 percent of new subscribers for the third month in a row, and there is good news at last for Vodafone, for the first time since June the struggling carrier actually broke the 100,000 barrier. DoCoMo however ended the year down in Japanese carriers unrelenting battle to get more cellies in pockets and handbags. The latest figures out show that KDDI took a huge 289,500 subscribers, more than double that of DoCoMo’s 114,600.
DoCoMo announced yesterday it was launching an i-mode Disaster Message Board service starting January 17 that will allow subscribers to post personal messages at a special i-mode site, an admission that DoCoMo’s overloaded PDC network will just not be able to cope with the flood of calls that will emerge when the Big One hits. “Should a major disaster occur,” says DoCoMo, “the network will undoubtedly be extremely busy as – in addition to the heavy traffic among administrative and relief agencies – ordinary users in the affected locale attempt outside contact to worried relatives and friends.”
The mobile Internet may have gained popularity in Japan because of cool ring tones and text messaging, but now businesses are finding that using cell phones to track information increases productivity — and saves money. Just as entertainment has been an unexpected driver of growth and innovation in the overall mobile Internet, unexpected applications such as delivery, construction, maintenance and sales are driving business use in the mobile Internet. By Prof. Jeffrey L. Funk, this paper is a condensed version of a chapter from his soon-to-be-released book “Mobile Disruption.”
