Amp’d Mobile and Kyocera Wireless Corp. today announced the Jet, an affordable high-speed EV-DO handset for rapid downloading of Amp’d’s unique 3G content launching later this year. Jet marks the first EV-DO mobile phone for Kyocera Wireless, a leading global manufacturer of CDMA wireless phones and devices, and will be the lowest-priced handset at Amp’d Mobile, the first fully integrated 3G mobile entertainment company for youth/young adults.
The Vodafone Group today announced its key performance indicators (KPI’s) for the 1 April to 30 June 2005 period. KPI’s relevant to Vodafone K.K., along with a summary of customer numbers*1, are as follows. The closing total customer base was 14,966,600. Vodafone K.K. had a net reduction of 74,100 for the quarter, but recorded positive net additions of 5,300 in June. 3G subscriptions increased by 382,200 to 1,299,400 in the quarter, increasing the 3G customer percentage from 6.1% to 8.7%. The percentage of prepaid customers was 11% at the end of June 2005, unchanged from at the end of March 2005.
Internet firm Livedoor Co. said today it plans to apply for a new mobile licence that the Japanese government is expected to issue later this year, with the aim of starting a data service. Livedoor will apply for the licence on the 2 gigahertz band, a company spokesman said. It will be competing against mobile broadband startup IP Mobile Inc. and Willcom Inc., a wireless service operator owned by Kyocera Corp. and U.S. fund Carlyle Group.
According to a Telstra insider, the take-up of iMode, which allows customers to surf the internet on a customised handset, has been far from overwhelming. Telstra has signed up less than 50,000 customers to date, with one insider putting subscriber numbers at closer to 30,000. Meanwhile, Vodafone Live, has gathered more than 400,000 Australian customers since April 2003. A Telstra spokesman said it was important to remember that while iMode had had a “soft” launch in November, it was yet to be offered by Telstra’s entire dealer network.
Vodafone will consider hosting so-called virtual network operators as part of a move to target specific market segments. The world’s largest mobile phone operator has so far been very selective in letting potential rivals on to its networks around the world, although it recently signed a deal with Extreme Sports in the UK. The change of direction was revealed on Tuesday by Bill Morrow, the former head of the UK business, who was parachuted into the troubled subsidiary three months ago as part of a management shake-up.
Fresh off the news wire [Jpn], KDDI just announced they are ready to roll out wallet-enabled handsets for their new “EZ-Felica” campaign scheduled to hit the Ginza sometime this September. According to the company, they are street-testing the new BREW-based application program which will offer digital cash together with a range of membership services including loyalty points for registered users. But wait.. that’s not all! KDDI also announced that from January 2006, the company will enable customers to use “Mobility Suica” in partnership with East Japan Railway Company (JR) as well. It seems like only yesterday (actually, December 2003) we reported “KDDI Joins FeliCa Bandwagon”.
