Editor’s Note
Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

The Future of Mobile Media Distribution

Analog TV handsets led the way in Japan last year. Now cell phones with sophisticated digital services pursue parallel paths into the future. These complex systems may migrate out of the country, but audience usage preferences are still an unknown. The following is a map to this new world of Japanese mobile technology — how digital FM cell phones have come of age and hand-held digital TV, delivered by satellite, may not be far behind. The second of a two-part series by Daniel Scuka.

100th Webcast: Japan Mobile Rocks!

100th Webcast: Japan Mobile Rocks!From Tokyo’s ultra-buttoned-down cellco headquarters to the funky, cell-phone-using youth masses, Wireless Watch Japan brings you first-hand video reporting on this country’s mobile revolution — and now we’ve done it 100 times! To celebrate, the WWJ team decided to show you more of what makes Japan’s wireless Internet the world’s test-bed for high-speed W-CDMA and CDMA 2000 networks and ubersophisticated mobile applications. Today’s program serves, we think, as a showcase for the incredible developments happening in the Japan market — and provides highlights from some of the past episodes we’ve had the pleasure to bring you. Phew! Happy 100th webcast to us! Full Program Run-time 5:41.. Oh, wait there’s more… 😎

3G, DoCoMo, FOMA Milestones in Japan

April is emerging to be a milestone month in Japan’s 3G rollout. According to the most recent Telecom Carriers Association figures. Milestone One: Japan added a million new 3G subscribers in April. Milestone Two: April’s surge also simultaneously brought the total number of 3G users here to over 17.7 million. So what you say? Well, this also meant that for the first time Japan’s 3G user base passed 20% of Japan’s 82 million mobile subscriber base, or 21.6% to be precise, as of April 30! Milestone Three: DoCoMo added an incredible 530,500 FOMA subscribers. Not only was this up 483% on the same month a year ago, it was the FIRST TIME ever that DoCoMo beat KDDI au in net 3G adds!!

5G Mobile Phones Coming Soon

An Info-Tech survey released to selected CEOs this week shows that wireless customers want free calls, free phones, the ability to switch between carriers for free, with international roaming and handsets that don’t need recharging every day. Carriers expressed shock and awe at the results and promised to sell off their swank marble skyscrapers, many situated in the heart of Tokyo’s financial district, to facilitate the move. “We are asking shareholders to help us deal with these issues,” said an obviously unsettled CEO at a hastily convened press conference. “While we have managed to get 5G deployment ready for the end of this year, that doesn’t seem to be what our customers really want,” the flustered president told WWJ in an exclusive interview today.

NEC Develops Super Shinkansen WLAN

NEC Corp. has just done something for wireless communications speeds, but possibly not in the way you were expecting. Local media has reported that NEC has just developed a WLAN/ 3G/ PHS technology capable of automatically roaming to find connections for passengers on board Japan’s shinkansen bullet trains.