Mobile Users
Mobile Users

Mobile Users

CDMA Tops 200 Million Users

The CDMA Development Group announced that CDMA added nearly 13.5 million subscribers in 1Q 2004, reaching 202 million users worldwide. In one year, from March 2003 to 2004, the CDMA subscriber base grew by a record 43 million users, or 31 percent, representing the highest growth for any leading cellular technology, and significantly higher than the 21percent gain for the whole industry. CDMA2000® further strengthened its leadership in 3G by adding 13 million users in the quarter to total 86.2 million, including 6.6 million CDMA2000 1xEV-DO users.

Health Smart Cell Phones

Highly sophisticated cellular phones are also starting to care for their owners by warning them of their health problems or by keeping them safe in case of emergency. LG hooked up with Healthpia, the health-related venture start-up to churn out diabetes phones within a couple of months for the first time in the world. The new-concept phone is equipped with a microchip, which can measure the human body’s glucose, a sugar that comes from food, thus keeping the handset owners informed of their status.

Shazam – Name that Ringtone

SystemK announced April 1 that a filed test of Shazam, a music recognition service developed by Shazam Entertainment of London, ended in great success. By simply pointing a cellphone toward any music for 30 seconds, the user can find out the name and the singer of the tune.

Mobile Health Ushers in a New Era

A good interview with James Nakagawa on Japan Today; Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases in Japan, but you don’t have to spend ages in a doctor’s waiting-room anymore to learn how to manage the affliction. Lifewatcher, a revolutionary service from Mobile Healthcare Inc, now provides a daily disease self-management system via your cell phone. He appeared on-camera with WWJ in Aug. 2003 see video interview here.

Cellphone: A Way of Life in Japan

In search of a chic cafe hidden in the neon alleys of a teeming Tokyo business district, Mr Hiroki Wai activated the global positioning system on his cellphone and punched in the cafe’s phone number. A satellite in the Earth’s orbit charted his progress on a full-colour street grid displayed on the screen of his cellphone. ‘Now turn left; now turn right, walk straight ahead…Hurray, you’re here!’ the voice chirped from his receiver.

Cell Phone Users Want TV Function

Nepro Japan published results of a survey of mobile phone users about services and functions. According to the survey, the most wanted function is a TV, as about 40% of the respondents pointed to it. In response to a question regarding “functions desirable for future mobile phones” (multiple answers allowed), “TV” (43%), “dictionaries” (35%) and “keys” (29%) were the top three. Functions such as “electronic wallet” (25%) and “TV phone” (24%) did not attract many supporters.