Japan firms balk at MPEG-4 terms
Japan’s mobile video content providers are threatening to snub the MPEG-4 compression format–touted as crucial technology for delivering video to mobile handsets–unless the cost of using it comes down.
New Tech & Services
My Box Provides Link to Customized Sites via i-mode Portal
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries announced today a new 2G/3G service, called “i-mode My Box,” for easy linkage to customized web pages via “iMenu,” the official i-mode portal. The service will be launched on a trial basis beginning at 9:00 a.m. on June 2, 2003.
DoCoMo to Launch Mobile Payments with JCB, Mastercard, Visa
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries announced today that the companies will launch an on-line payments service, named “DoCommerce,” at 9:00 a.m. on May 26, 2003, enabling both 2G and 3G SSL-compatible i-mode handset users to enjoy mobile shopping and pay online with their VISA, or JCB credit cards.
KDDI Develops Mobile Terminal Linking Communications
KDDI has been actively developing technologies and services that fuse communications and broadcasting. As a part of these activities, the KDDI subsidiary KDDI R&D Laboratories, in conjunction with NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories has developed a prototype mobile terminal that supports linked communications and broadcasting services in an environment similar to actual usage conditions. The services combine mobile phone services and data broadcasting for mobile terminals that support digital terrestrial broadcasting.
NTT DoCoMo to Offer Video Streaming Service for FOMA Phones
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight subsidiaries announced today that they will launch V-Live(TM) service for videophones beginning May 1, 2003. M-Stage V-Live is a one-to-many video streaming service that enables users to download or stream a variety of live and archived content via 64 Kbps circuit-switched wireless transmission. The new offering will be available for P2101V, P2102V, D2101V, SH2101V, and T2101V FOMA handsets.
Tokyo Startup Leverages Mobile Mail
Nooper.com is an unlikely name for a technology that aims to turbocharge mobile mail. The system lets users specify events – “Noopies” – and then receive notification (as well as content) via keitai; Noopies can be anything – a Mail Checker Noopie alerts you when your corporate account gets a new mail, a Reminder Noopie tells you when rain is more than 40% likely (Remember your kasa!), and a List Noopie keeps you in touch with multiple buddies on a mailing list. The jury’s still out on whether Nooper can succeed in Japan’s roiling mobile market, but if they can succeed here, they can probably succeed anywhere. Full Program Run-time 16:48