KDDI has announced passing the 10 million full-song download point as of 15 June. They attributed the success to their CDMA 1X high-speed EV-DO network and fixed-rate packet plans; this popular service duo has doubled the download numbers on a monthly basis since the launch in late November 2004. Link for details, with a breakdown of the top tunes downloaded to date, after the jump.
KDDI will introduce EV-DO Rev.A that enhances the function of the CDMA2000 1x EV-DO method, which is the infrastructure for their data communication on au cellphones, by the end of 2006. It is assumed that with the construction of an “Ultra 3G” network, the fixed movement integrated communication infrastructure will enable improved connection speed of up to 3.1Mbps service. The decision for this next generation standard was made at a recent 3GPP2 meeting in the United States by joint proposal of 29 major telecomm equipment manufacturer companies worldwide.
KDDI has allied with San Francisco-based CRM solution provider salesforce.com to deliver wireless CRM functionality to mobile phones. Available to salesforce.com Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition subscribers in Japan, the service enables users to download data from the service to KDDI phones and then view, edit and input new data that can be synchronized with search data both offline and online. The pilot will be extended to customers between 1 August 1 and 30 September, becoming generally available in October at a cost of JPY 1,575 incl. tax per month, per user.
KDDI Corporation, Japan’s leading fixed line and mobile phone service carrier and salesforce.com, the market and technology leader in on-demand CRM, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver on-demand mobile CRM solutions for the Japanese market. Known as “salesforce.com Mobile Edition for au,” the innovative joint offering will deliver comprehensive, wireless CRM functionality that enables users to benefit from their salesforce.com data anywhere, anytime using KDDI’s mobile phones and wireless network. Available to salesforce.com Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition subscribers in Japan, the solution enables users to download data from the salesforce.com service to KDDI phones; view, edit and input new data that can be synchronized with salesforce.com; and search data both offline and online.
NTT DoCoMo, and Korea’s LG Electronics just announced a basic agreement to jointly develop a dual-mode 3G FOMA handset that works on both W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS networks. The new handset will be capable of international roaming and equipped for all basic FOMA functions, including videophone and even i-mode mobile Internet access. Commercialization is targeted for spring of 2006. Though this move may seem rather like MSN and Yahoo coming out and agreeing to create joint web pages, DoCoMo needs to hustle up more offshore business even if it means sleeping with the enemy.
Vodafone K.K. just announced that it has enlisted two Japanese celebrities, Junichi Okada and Misaki Ito, to promote the companies services in Japan. Junichi Okada and Misaki Ito will feature in new TV advertisements, to go on air from the end of June, that are part of the current “Vodafone, beyond borders” ad campaign. Advertisements in newspapers, magazines and other media will begin from mid-June.
