DoCoMo has introduced the N900iG [.jpg image], the first 3G FOMA handset compatible in approximately 115 countries/regions. The handset goes on sale 25 December 2004. N900iG users who want to use the handset abroad must subscribe to DoCoMo’s World Wing 3G roaming service for i-mode packet communications, videophone, SMS and voice calls in other countries/regions.
WaveSat this week began shipping a chip that it says is the first to comply fully with the IEEE 802.16-2004 wireless broadband standard, commonly known as WiMax. The DM256 chip is now shipping in sample quantities and is expected to be available in volume in January, according to Francois Draper, vice president of sales and marketing at WaveSat, in Montreal. The chip will become a component of systems costing around $250 to $300 that should begin shipping in the second quarter of next year, he says.
Reuters is reporting that NTT DoCoMo is close to signing a deal with Russia’s mobile phone firm Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) to license i-mode, potentially boosting MTS’s revenues, sources close to the matter said to Reuters. A cooperation agreement between the two firms will be signed on Friday, a different source in Moscow had said, without giving further details.
Vodafone just announced the signing of a new Partner Network Agreement, which makes SmarTone Vodafone’s exclusive partner in Hong Kong. SmarTone will re-brand its business to SmarTone-Vodafone, bringing the Vodafone brand into Hong Kong’s (significant) mobile market. Under the agreement, both companies will co-operate in developing and offering products and services, through the SmarTone-Vodafone brand, to international travellers and domestic customers.
Toshiba Corporation and NEC Corporation today announced two key advancements toward development of a magnetoresistive random access memory, a technology seen as key to the development of future generations of high performance mobile equipment. Unveiling the latest fruits of a joint development program dating back to 2002, the two companies announced a new cell design that halves power consumption during data writes and cuts writing errors, and a novel MRAM architecture with high speed characteristics and a performance that will support development of high-density devices. Full details of the new technology were presented on December 14 at IEDM (International Electron Devices Meeting) 2004 in San Francisco, USA.
Vodafone Japan is back in Japan’s 3G data race with today’s launch of Vodafone live! BB, a fixed-line PC Web site [only in Japanese so far] that allows users to search and download content for use on mobile terminals. Vodafone live! BB will operate with Vodafone’s new 3G handsets and serve as a a sort of Mother-of-all-Mobile-Portals solution for getting biggie-sized files (think audio, music and video) onto phones. Anyone can download the content files to a PC or laptop, copy them onto miniSD memory cards, and transfer them to a phone, but only Vodafone customers with a spanking new 3G celly can receive a digital key (distributed over the air) to unlock the files for playback.
