Britain’s first next-generation mobile phone network, 3, launches next month. So it seems like a good time to look at the lessons from the Japanese market, where 3G has been available for 18 months, and ask when we’ll really be enjoying the benefits of 3G in the UK.
MTI Ltd. unveiled on Jan. 31 the “TUNA M+,” a Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) application program for wireless operation of a Windows PC by an “au” mobile phone available from KDDI Corp. Users pay a monthly charge of 315 yen.
KDDI Corp. reported group net profit of 30.87 billion yen for the fiscal third quarter, while boosting its full-year-earnings forecast by five billion yen, citing healthy consumer demand for its flagship “au” mobile-phone service, lower marketing costs, and restructuring. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, KDDI posted sales of 695.08 billion yen and operating profit of 56.80 billion yen.
You can watch streaming video on cellys in Japan, and it isn’t often that tech providers flip back the cover to show how it works. In October, NTT DoCoMo launched their V-Live service on 3G, powered by Fujitsu and US-based NMS Communications. We show the details behind the magic, then drop in on Gartner Japan to get the skinny on the business of mobile streaming. The provision of live or archived video and audio streams to mobile phones using the third-generation IMT-2000 network standard has yet to gain wide usage. Nonetheless, in October, NTT DoCoMo, Inc. strengthened its multimedia content offerings by expanding services provided under its “M-Stage” brand name. It’s still early days, but this stuff really works!
WWJ has been focusing on mobile Java for the past few weeks — and with good reason. The pundits claim the interactivity and secure mobile execution environment provided by Java could be vital for making 3G data services pay off sooner rather than later. We visited then-pre-IPO software developer Net Village, creator of the “Remote Mail” Java-based mail appli. A couple of key facts emerged: Java boosts packet revenue for the carriers, the cost and complexity of deploying sophisticated Java applis may be beyond what the carriers themselves can do (economically), and Remote Mail is one cool app — 330,000 happy users can’t all be wrong! (See a live demo.) Oh — and NV’s IPO generated a modest 4.094 billion yen.
We think that the market heavyweight, NTT DoCoMo, gets a better payback by spreading Java far and wide (at a low marginal cost), while eschewing pricey gadgets and add-ons (or making the consumer pay for same when desired; we note that DoCoMo’s SH251i is selling for 5,000 yen more than J-Phone’s high-end Sharp Sha-mail handset).
WiredPocket is a US-based mobile software startup focusing on the enterprise space. That’s fine for over there, but it’s just a tiny slice of the primarily consumer market over here.
So why in heck would WP open a Japan office.. have they really got a chance?
Does MPEG 4 have the wireless video industry all wrapped up.. Maybe not.
J-Phone is using the NANCY codec for Movie Sha Mail, and this week we visited Office Noa, the company that developed NANCY and hear their CEO plans to beat MPEG at its own game.
There’s only one airline with a 3G-optimized, bilingual, B2C presence on all three of Japan’s wireless webs, and it isn’t even a Japanese carrier!
Join us for an exclusive, in-depth profile of Cathay Pacific’s consumer-facing wireless strategy and find out why a foreign airline is spending so much to get mobilized in Japan.
Big D’s 3G network is novel for more than just videoconferencing or data speed.
Now, Japanese handsets have smart cards too. Wireless Watch talks to DoCoMo partner Gemplus about W-CDMA/GSM roaming, applications, and why you need smart cards on FOMA.
