Editor’s Note
Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

What Happens When Mobile Mail is Cheap

If you read Daniel Scuka’s guest viewpoint late last week, you’ll know the key difference between Japan and Europe – SMS mail pricing. While his opinion is his own, we noted this spectacular example of what can happen when mail (SMS or SMTP) is cheap – like it is in Japan. Ironically, this story comes not from an advanced, Western European market like Germany, France, or the UK, but from the Czech Republic – where SMS messages cost as little as 0.03 euro each and local municipal authorities are exploiting the ubiquity of cellular to bring eGovernment services to the masses.

Micro-Fuel Cells offer More Power

The current buzzword in personal electronics is Wi-Fi, but the full potential of the latest laptops, cell phones and PDAs is being held back by batteries that last just a few hours. Major consumer electronics firms like NEC, Toshiba and Motorola, along with a number of startups.. are working on micro fuel cells, which theoretically can generate power 10 times longer than conventional batteries.

A Decade of Mobile Communications

Ten years ago, the cell phone was a luxury item used by businessmen. Now just about everybody in Japan has a ‘keitai,’ and the ubiquitous little devices have transformed interpersonal communications. This essay by the inventor of the Personal Handyphone offers a look back over the brief history of the cell phone.

We'rrrrre Back!!

Wireless Watch Japan is back – with a new URL, a new Web site, new staff, anda new service model. We’re ready to go for a 2003 fast proving to be a breakout year for wireless in Japan. WWJ regulars will recall that our last email newsletter and video programwere posted around April 30. Since then, the site’s been in hibernation mode while we rebuilt the backend, upgraded servers, and thought long and hardabout how to place WWJ onto a sustainable, future-oriented footing. And Here We Are!

Vision for the Future of Wireless Watch Japan

Vision for the Future of Wireless Watch JapanDaniel Scuka is a familiar face to the Wireless Watch Japan community not only as the co-founder and visionary behind the media project, but also as the site’s video host. Prior to his move to the business manager’s seat at WWJ (as well as a relo to Frankfurt), Daniel organized a team of journalist successors to take over WWJ in Tokyo. Newly joined reporter and video host John Alderman interviewed him just before he left. Daniel shared the ideas the spurred him to create Wireless Watch Japan, the activity that still inspires him, and his forecast for the future of the mobile Internet in Japan. This program is a great, quick overview of what makes Japan the world’s most exciting market and an important test-bed for the globe’s mobile industry. Full Program Run-time 14:35

Teenagers nabbed playing badger game

Nine teenagers have been arrested for luring timid men to secluded locations around Tokyo and robbing them, police said Thursday. The boys admitted to playing the badger game after reading a magazine article saying that such a trick was “lucrative” because few victims would report the affair to police when lured by women and forced to pay money.