Japan Market
Japan Market

Japan Market

Wireless Watch in Toyota's Drivers Seat

Wireless Watch in Toyota's Drivers SeatA new smart watch from Toyota Motors and Citizen Watch lets drivers open and lock car doors remotely, pop the trunk and start the engine with a flick of the wrist. Together the two firms have crafted a non-contact key wristwatch for use with luxury Toyota Crown automobiles. The watch transmits a radio signal for various functions to the car’s built in antenna.

To open the doors drivers just grasp the door handle for the watch to transmit the unlock signal; press a button on the side of the watch for remote locking and unlocking. Although the timepiece is tuned for just one make of car, if this perk proves popular Toyota is considering expanding it to other models. Priced at 42,000 yen, the watch went on sale October 4th.

Mobile Intelligence Japan: Now We're Cooking!

Mobile Intelligence Japan: Now We're Cooking!Another full day on the run for the Mobile Intelligence Japan mission-to-Tokyo crew, with three hours this morning focused on e- and m-payments. This is one of the hottest areas of interest for the wireless industry and we had a couple of great seminar room presentations that really helped everyone put the past, present and future road maps in perspective. Heading out on the street for afternoon sessions in Harajuku and on the Ginza, we managed to get our hands on some of the latest handsets coming from KDDI/au and got an inside peek at the possible future evolution of QR codes from ColorZip.

The evening’s local experts’ dinner, in a very traditional Japanese restaurant — with some fantastic food and conversation — was the perfect way to finish off the day. A dozen hard-core mobile pros gathered to exchange views and opinions about domestic and international markets and strategies while trying to keep up with all the plates and pitchers that just kept coming from somewhere on the other side of the koi pond. Like the title says… Now We’re (Really) Cooking!

InfoPLANT's Handset Market Survey

Online marketer infoPLANT announced a survey result on mobile handset manufacturers. The survey was conducted on September 17 through the company’s data service providing site, C-NEWS, among 200 male and 200 female mobile phone/Internet users aged 15 or older. When asked about which maker offers the most attractive looking handset, about 15% of respondents selected Sharp and Panasonic, followed by Toshiba (about 10%). When asked which maker’s handset they would buy next, 30% replied Sharp, followed by Panasonic and NEC (about 25% each), and Sony/Sony Ericsson (over 20%).

Mobile Intelligence Japan – Akihabara Walking Tour

Mobile Intelligence Japan - Akihabara Walking TourAfter months of preparation, our MIJ mission to Tokyo kicked-off Sunday afternoon with a casual walk-about through the famous Akihabara electric town district. Over the coming week of scheduled meetings and events, we plan to post a daily update — right here on WWJ — of the highlights to provide subscribers a current snapshot of Japan’s mobile space. MIJ has an extensive agenda lined up, including company visits and presentations from many of what we believe to be the most interesting local players, a major networking event at Mobile Monday tomorrow night and a whole day out at Tech Disneyland — the CEATEC trade show.

You’ve got to experience it to believe it!

While most of these discussions will be held ‘off-the-record’ to gather info just for MIJ participants, we are looking forward to gaining an even deeper insight of where the industry is today and how things are shaping up for 2006 and to sharing what we can.

eAccess Courting Goldman Sachs

ADSL Broadband firm and mobile carrier wannabe eAccess is in discussion with American’s Goldman Sachs Group regarding significant investment in the firm. eAccess issued a Japanese press release in response to an article in the Nihon Keizai Daily. The article reported that the company plans to partner with Goldman Sachs with an investment by the American corporate giant of 25 billion yen through GS Capital Partners. Goldman Sachs has ties with Universal Studios Japan and could smooth plans for eAccess to distribute Universal video games over Japanese 3G cell phones. The article went on to say that they may also develop phone-based travel content including golf and hotel reservations for properties with Goldman Sachs ties.

KDDI Expands Licensing With Narus

Narus, Inc. announced that Japanese carrier KDDI has expanded its licensing agreement to include its new PC Site Viewer application. Narus and KDDI, along with their integration partner NEC, have been working together for more than five years building one of the most progressive 3G networks in Japan. Narus is the mediation platform for KDDI’s EVDO and IXRT networks. With the expansion of Narus’ mediation solution to KDDI’s PC Site Viewer, a browser that enables mobile handsets to access regular PC Web pages, the Narus mediation solution for all of KDDI’s network, will provide detailed customer usage information for all IP services.

Yozan to Exit PHS Business

Yozan Inc. has announced that it will terminate most of its PHS (personal handy-phone system) services in Japan at the end of November and make the shift to its new wireless broadband services starting in December. Yozan aquired the PHS sysytem from Tokyo Electric in August 2002 and has since watched customers migrate to new, faster 3G services. See the company’s Japanese press release, in .PDF format, here.

Cramming for Exams on Mobile

Cramming for exams is never fun, but it’s a fact of life for students everywhere, especially in Japan. But forget using flash cards or using a textbook to learn all the needed information. Mobile-phone companies are now getting into the game and allowing people to go online and test their knowledge on the go. KDDI, one of the country’s biggest wireless carriers, launched a service under its AU label to offer the “Manabi” program. Literally meaning “to study,” Manabi allows subscribers to get access to study kits and test themselves on multiple-choice questions that flash on-screen.

Manga Publishers Moving to Mobile

Cartoon-strip publishers, whose printed-matter sales have been losing steam, are actively embracing mobile media because cell phones are what young people are spending their time and money on. Cell phone sites for cartoon strips are booming, as is demand for popular titles. But at the same time, some famous “manga” artists are bypassing publishing houses to offer their works to “keitai” (cell phone) sites directly. (See WWJ’s initial video report on this topic — from Sept. 2003!! — Ed.)

New Electronics Megastore In Akihabara

Yodobashi Camera Co. opened one of the country’s largest consumer appliance stores in Tokyo’s Akihabara district on Friday. Located in a nine-story building, “Multimedia Akiba” features 23,800 sq. meters of sales space for some 600,000 items, including home appliances, computers and toys (and cell phones — Ed.)