New Tech & Services
New Tech & Services

New Tech & Services

eBay to Launch on O2's i-mode

O2 is set to announce it has signed up auction giant eBay to its i-mode mobile internet service. The service, which can already be accessed via i-mode enabled handsets, is thought to be receiving its official launch soon. The i-mode version of eBay provides most of the same functionality as the regular internet service, including the ability to bid, search the auction site and monitor the progress of auctions using the ‘my eBay’ function. eBay has already made its appearance on i-mode in a handful of geographies including Australia, France and Singapore.

GPS for your Yamaha Scooter

Wise Gear Ltd. has announced that the ‘First in Country’ GPS motorcycle navigation system, using an FM transmitter for voice directions, is on the road (literally) as of 26 December 2005. The Garmin Street Pilot 2610 package touts an 84mm x 44mm waterproof touch-screen with a 512-MB Compact Flash memory card and has easy-mount custom brackets for most late-model Yamaha bikes. The unit is also detachable, apparently to enable a little Nabis sidewalk surfing, and at approximately $1,500 per unit, appears to provide some much-needed curb-side theft prevention.

KDDI to Study Qualcomm's MediaFlo

KDDI will establish a planning firm to study the potential of alternate mobile TV broadcasting business opportunities with Qualcomm Japan, according to press release posted today. The joint venture, headed by President and Representative Director Masuda Kazuhiko, will launch on 27 December with 10 employees. Media Flow Japan, will be capitalized at 10 million yen, of which 80 percent will be put up by KDDI and 20 percent by Qualcomm. The joint venture will ask the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry for a frequency assignment after considering the profitability and service contents of the new business, as well as targeting a possible start date in late 2006.

ITunes Japan Adds Another Label

Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes Music Store Japan will be gaining more content from Wednesday with the addition of songs from Victor Entertainment Inc. The recording label, which is affiliated with Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. (JVC), will add 18 albums totalling 209 tracks to Apple’s online music distribution service, it said. The tracks cover mainly Japanese domestic artists.

University Students Trial Free IC-Phone

The Kanagawa Institute of Technology (KAIT) announced it would adopt a student ID card system utilizing contactless IC cards and mobile phones equipped with the equivalent functions. The IC cards and mobile phones can be used for automatic record of attendance, admission to buildings and issuance of various certificates. In addition, the system allows purchase of goods by using “Edy” electronic money. According to KAIT, it will be the first university in Japan to use mobile phones as student ID cards. As a first step, the university will provide 1,200 newly enrolled students with free mobile phones.

Latest Release of Skype for Mobile Japan Friendly

Latest Release of Skype for Mobile Japan Friendly by Mobikyo KKSkype has just introduced two new, updated clients for the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform: Skype for Pocket PC Beta version 1.2 and Skype for Pocket PC low CPU Beta version. This latest release claims full support for low-CPU devices with 300+ MHz processors. Users will be able to download and install the Internet telephony application with Danish, Dutch, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese Brazil, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish language plug-ins and it also supports the new call-forwarding feature and landscape mode for 240×240 and 480×480 screens.

We expect to see even more buzz on this development in the local wireless community with Willcom’s new Zero3 dual-mode Smartphone, made by Sharp, which just hit the street here last week. In fact, eager buyers were lining up to order the unit in early December and we’ve even noticed a Wiki site [Japanese only] dedicated to the Zero3, one of the hottest QWERTY handsets available in the domestic market.

The potential of VoIP flat-rate voice calling for mobile — including long-distance — takes another huge step with this announcement. Yes, it’s a narrow niche of users who will adopt this here… for now. However, for incumbent cellcos, the kanji is on the wall and they will undoubtedly have to respond to this truly disruptive technology if they wish to save their voice-centric business model.