New Tech & Services
New Tech & Services

New Tech & Services

Qualcomm's Universal Mobile TV Chip

QUALCOMM announced its single-chip Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM) solution supporting three of the world’s leading mobile broadcast standards. The UBM solution unifies the world’s leading mobile TV standards into a single, cost-effective chip with support for FLO technology, as well as for Digital Video Broadcasting — Handheld (DVB-H) and one-segment Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting — Terrestrial (ISDB-T), creating a common platform that handset manufacturers can leverage to address multiple standards. Designed to be compatible with both CDMA2000 and WCDMA/UMTS devices, the UBM solution is expected to sample in the first quarter of 2007.

[This represents a huge opportunity for the 1Seg platform in Japan — Eds]

Advanced Cellphones Running out of Power

With an escalating array of features, including TV reception, supported by ever greater capacity of microchips, what’s to keep cellphones from adding functions with ever increasing complexity? Power. Even advanced lithium-ion batteries are being overwhelmed by the demands of new functions and an increase in flat-rate services for calls and data transmissions, which have lengthened the duration phones are used. Cellphone carriers are accelerating development of fuel cells to meet subscribers’ demand for longer operating times and upgraded functions.

DoCoMo Sees Finance as Key to Growth

NTT DoCoMo aims to expand in finance and other industries to offset slowing growth in mobile phone services. “If DoCoMo is a mobile phone company in five years, our growth will be limited,” said Takeshi Natsuno, DoCoMo’s vice president of multimedia services, said in an interview. “My expectation is to make DoCoMo a more diversified company.” Natsuno, who oversaw the debut of i-mode in 1999, last month introduced the DCMX credit card service that lets customers use handsets to pay for goods and services such as groceries and taxis. The company expects the service to generate as much as 100 billion yen ($912 million) in annual sales in three years.

Softbank and Apple to develop iPod phones

The Japanese Internet service company and the U.S. computer company are expected to launch handsets with the iPod functions as early as this year in Japan. Softbank Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. are planning to jointly develop mobile phones that have built-in iPod digital music players and can download songs directly from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, news reports said Saturday. Kyodo News agency had a similar report.

NEC's Super 3G Lab Down Under

The high-speed 3G mobile telephony networks of today will feel like the slowest of modems in a few years, thanks in part to the work of a Melbourne-based team of researchers at NEC Australia. The company’s mobile research and development division is charged with creating technologies that will shape the next generation of mobile networks two to five years from now, as networks move from today’s speeds of about 3.6Mbps to 14Mbps and beyond. The Melbourne team represents about one third of all of NEC’s research and development capability in its field.

Intel Buys into Bitwallet

Intel Capital, Intel Corp.’s investment division, announced at a press conference held in Tokyo that it has invested in Bitwallet, Inc., a service provider of e-money EDY. Intel Capital has bought convertible bonds worth 5 billion jpy. According to the announcement Intel plans to contribute to the penetration of electronic money services not only in Japan but also throughout the world. Bitwallet plans to allocate the investment to procure reader/writer terminals to be used at Edy affiliated stores, and terminals to be used for payment business and by major distributors.

This is significant — Bitwallet is the joint venture established by DoCoMo, Sony and more than 35 banks, travel agencies, technology companies, etc. Bitwallet now has a banking license in Japan and serves as the e-money cash issuer and payment settlement operator. This investment from Intel VC — one of the first from an outside pure-VC-capital-growth-seeking partner into the JV — means that someone outside Japan also sees the huge potential in Felica/IC cash payments that DoCoMo and KDDI also see — Eds