According to an article on EE Times, during talks that led to Softbank’s acquisition of Vodafone’s Japan unit, the companies also agreed to form a joint venture to deliver data services. The joint venture will be the base of Softbank’s Internet service that will leverage Vodafone’s mobile phone network. The combined effort will challenge NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode service, said Masayoshi Son, president and CEO of Softbank.
According to a recent press release, FIFA has announced its decision on the distribution for the Asian broadcast rights to the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup and all FIFA Events between 2007 and 2014 following a tender process that was started in the autumn 2005. It has appointed a newly-formed joint venture established between two of its long-term partners, Infront Sports & Media, the international sports marketing company, and Dentsu, the Japan-based advertising company. The rights included in the appointment are in the categories of television, radio, broadband internet and mobile broadcasting in key Asian territories.
Japan-based MobileCast has introduced a bluetooth controller and custom face-plate package [.jpg] for DoCoMo’s new P902i 3G handsets made by Panasonic. The “mLink” kit is available, for an estimated market price of about 14,800 yen, in 3 different Disney character designs; Mickey mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Alice in Wonderland and enables remote control operations with the cellphones music player including play, skip, pause and volume adjustment at a working distance of about 10 meters.
NEC has announced the release of “music-on-the-move”, an innovative new mobile content service for Telstra i-mode users. To bring the site to life, licensing agreements have been secured with major record labels, EMI and Warner, as well as local Australian independent labels, Shock Records and Vicious, providing consumers with a diverse array of mobile content. Music of all genres from past and present is available for purchase and download in through the “music on the move” i-mode site, giving Australian mobile phone users instant access to their favourite tracks.
Vodafone K.K. today announced the launch of content for Vodafone live! CAST, an automatic content delivery service scheduled to begin with the mid-March 2006 roll out of two new compatible 3G handsets, the Vodafone 904T by Toshiba and the Vodafone 804N by NEC. The visual mobile magazine “yubio” will debut as the first available content offering. “AkibaRun!” and “chu*rara” are scheduled to follow later in March. Yubio (based on a play on words using the Japanese word for thumb, which is oya-yubi) is a visual mobile magazine that readers can quickly flick through with their thumbs and targeted at males from 25 to 35 years of age. Yubio aims to be a visually oriented all-round entertainment magazine with set themes for each day of the week. Each issue, delivered daily, will have approximately 15 pages. (More details after the jump.)
Softbank Corp. plans to start a nationwide video broadcasting service for mobile phones by the end of 2012, Softbank officials said Wednesday. The Internet services firm, which will enter the mobile phone market in spring 2007, will ask the telecommunications ministry for a broadcasting license as early as next year, the officials said. Softbank plans to succeed by using a range of attractive broadcast programs, including its own productions, they said.
