Japan Market
Japan Market

Japan Market

Yes, KDDI 3G Really Does Rock

I received a query from a long-time, astute, tech industry watcher last week after sending out the WWJ newsletter. I say “astute” not only because he’s a long-time WWJ fan, but also because he works as a high-level consultant in several fields, including auto electronics, software development, and marketing. His query focused on my comments that Vodafone’s 3G subscriber base was still tiny — with 151,400 compared to 3.58 mn and 13.99 mn at DoCoMo and KDDI, respectively, as of April 30. My numbers came direct from the Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA) website, and he asked, somewhat skeptically, if these numbers were correct. I replied that they were and said that…

Terrestrial TV-Enabled Cell Phone

KDDI R&D Laboratories have jointly developed a mobile-phone terminal that receives digital terrestrial TV broadcasts with interactive services in conjunction with NHK Science and Technical Research Labs. The two companies are the first in Japan to develop such a product in advance of digital TV broadcasting aimed at mobile terminals, which is due to commence in fiscal 2005. We visited NHK’s open house for a peek at their prototype, a modified Hitachi W11H handset. The demonstration allowed users to watch a newscast and scroll through a menu selection of relevant links to view different segments, like weather forecasts or sports highlights. A few frame-grabs below, or see the video program here.

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.

Japan Cell Phones: Most Individualized, Intimate Technology

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) isn’t particularly renowned for exciting, fun-to-read reports. The global standards body tends to produce authoritative but somewhat plodding publications that delve into the arcana of topics like radio spectrum management and regulatory trends. But a recent case study examining how Japan’s mobile Internet works and highlighting some of the key technology and applications driving 3G is refreshingly non-academic, not to mention pretty darn accurate.

DoCoMo Pins 3G Hopes on New Handsets

DoCoMo will seek to revitalise lacklustre sales of its FOMA service with the launch of three new handsets. From next month DoCoMo will start receiving an estimated 6m 3G handsets from NEC, Panasonic and Fujitsu in a bid to increase its 3G customer base to 10.6m. In conjunction with the new handsets, DoCoMo has earmarked Y120bn ($1.1bn) of tariff cuts during the current financial year.

KDDI, Vodafone Enlist Artists to the Cause

Yesterday, the Wireless Watch Japan site was slammed by record traffic after we posted our first big Net news scoop: Casio’s announcement of what appears to be the world’s first 3-megapixel camera phone, due for release later this summer via KDDI. And that wasn’t the only big Japan handset news from the past few days: both KDDI (working with Hitachi) and NTT DoCoMo have announced concept models capable of receiving terrestrial digital TV broadcasts, while Vodafone’s been mentioned as working on new karaoke-enabled handsets with Sharp and Toshiba. Phones in Japan have become culturally connected communicators and terminal makers who think more like artists and less like engineers will flourish.