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Yamaha Announces Compass Chip

Yamaha Corp. announced that it has developed the YAS529 Three-Axis Geomagnetic Sensor IC Chip, the world’s smallest class of three-axis geomagnetic sensor for applications related to mobile phones and compact navigation systems. Most phones with GPS functions show the user’s current location on a map, but the services are thought to be difficult to use because the maps provided do not rotate in response to the user’s movements nor do they indicate the direction in which the users is moving. End users have expressed a growing desire for a geomagnetic sensor with an electronic compass function that keeps the map oriented in the direction of their movement. Plans call for beginning to market the chip in October 2006.

Access Aims for 30% Mobile OS Share

Access hopes to win 30 percent of the market for mobile device operating systems by 2010, according to Tomihisa Kamada, chief technical officer and co-founder. Access hopes to achieve greater marketshare by integrating its application software with the Linux-based mobile phone operating system being developed by PalmSource. This would result in a mobile phone software stack capable of competing with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS in terms of integration level.

Pantech's New 3G Model for KDDI

Pantech Group, South Korea’s No. 2 mobile phone maker, has signed an agreement to ship it’s second 3G model to KDDI in a deal pegged at $110 million. The A1406PT handset will be available in September targeting middle-aged and elderly Japanese consumers, Pantech said in a statement. The agreement comes six months after Pantech offered its A1405PT model, the first shipment to Japan by a Korean cellphone maker.

Tokyo Game Show 2006: Update

CESA, organisers for The Tokyo Game Show, have just issued a media update on this years event scheduled for Sept. 22 – 24. The theme is “New Excitement. New Sensations. A New Generation” as they celebrate the 10th year anniversary since its launch in 1996. It is also the year in which the latest in computer entertainment, from next generation systems, to home platform software, online games and mobile applications come together under one roof at Makuhari Messe.

Radvision's PC-to-Mobile 3G Solution

Radvision announced today the availability of its new PC-to-Mobile 3G solution. The solution transforms PCs into mobile handsets by opening a bi-directional channel for visual communication between 3G mobile devices and desktops. The PC-to-Mobile solution exponentially increases the 3G subscriber base to include PCs – immediately expanding 3G video call possibilities. “The PC-to-Mobile solution leverages the power of both PCs and 3G mobile devices to fuel 3G proliferation and enable subscribers to use any PC with a broadband Internet connection as an extension of their 3G mobile handsets, subscriptions and accounts.” said Alon Barnea, General Manager of Radvision’s Mobility and Service Provider Business Unit.

KDDI Joins WiMAX Forum Board of Directors

The WiMAX Forum, a non-profit organization comprised of almost 400 companies committed to the open interoperability of products delivering broadband wireless services, today named Dr. Hideo Okinaka of KDDI Corporation to its Board of Directors. As a strong contributor to the WiMAX Forum, KDDI’s addition to the board of directors is indicative of the overwhelming support from operators and wireless market leaders around the globe that WiMAX is the next evolution for delivering personal broadband services.