Sign of the Times
Sign of the Times

Sign of the Times

Motorola Acquires i-Mode R&D Team

Motorola confirmed that it has acquired a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Melco Mobile Communication Europe (MMCE), and it’s European team of i-mode design employees and a research center in western France. The Rennes facility will become a European i-mode focused development center for Motorola, continuing to operate in its state-of-the-art research and design center in Cesson-Sevigne (Rennes), France. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Jupiter Japan to Become MVNO

Shares of Jupiter Telecommunications Co. rose as much as 2.9 percent after a report that Japan’s biggest cable television provider may begin its own cellular phone service using Vodafone Group Plc’s Japanese network. Jupiter’s stock rose 1.5 percent to 94,900 yen as of 9:58 a.m. in trading on the Jasdaq. The company may sign up with Vodafone K.K., the local unit of Newbury, England-based Vodafone, next year, said Jupiter President Tomoyuki Moriizumi in an interview with the the Yomiuri newspaper. Officials at Tokyo-based Jupiter were not available to comment on the report.

Casio to Buy LCDs from Taiwan

Casio Computer Co. Ltd. has indicated it would buy liquid crystal displays from Taiwan’s HannStar Display Corp., aiming to boost its presence in the cell-phone-use panel market without investing in its own production facilities. Casio has agreed to extend to HannStar its technologies to make high-resolution panels. Casio is the world’s largest maker of LCD panels used in digital cameras with a 40 percent market share while HannStar is Taiwan’s fifth-largest LCD maker.

Web Giants Aim at Mobile Frontier

Yahoo Japan is an Internet superpower on personal computers here, but when surfers use the browser on their cellphone, that famed Yahoo logo rarely pops up. In Japan, the phone screen and the Internet content underneath is almost always controlled by the mobile carrier. But Yahoo and the other major Japanese portals, like Excite Japan, MSN and Goo, see that barrier breaking down, and they are investing heavily in their mobile phone content.

India, Japan to Sign Telecom Deals

India will sign three agreements with Japan, aimed at enhancing ties between institutions and industries of the two countries in the IT and telecom sector, in the first meeting of ministerial forum on ICT starting tomorrow. The ICT forum will also witness the signing of three separate MoUs by National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT), Japan with C-DAC, C-DOT and IIT Guwahati, to undertake joint programmes in research and development and HRD in the ICT sector, an official statement said.

Mobile Phone Designed for Seniors

DoCoMo will release a new mobile handset able to slow down speakers’ voice speed later this month. The key targeted users are the elderly. The speed converter technology used in the handset slows down speakers’ voice speed up to 0.7x, so the listener can feel like that the speakers’ dialogue goes slowly. By reducing the number of menu items as well as using relatively large icons, screen operation became easier than before. The unit also features an emergency 80 dB alarm system and a built-in pedometer.

Namco Ports RidgeRacer for BREW

EZweb gamers can rejoice in spending about $5 to download and burn RidgeRacer rubber now that Namco has made the popular title compatible with Qualcomm’s BREW platform. While apparently only available for the new W31SA at launch, no doubt it’s just a matter of time for it to become more widely available across KDDI’s WIN handset fleet… and then… The World! We also noticed another interesting Namco title, while snooping around their mobile site, called IdolMaster. Talk about RPGs! WWJ members log in for the full skinny!

Fancy Tech on Runway

In the future, we’ll text-message hugs to each other’s shirts, our coat buttons will house cameras, and our underwear biosensors will phone home when we’re in trouble. This week’s runway show brought together 35 exhibitors from 10 countries to display wearable computers, computer-generated jewelry and clothing designs festooned with electronics; the exhibitor list combined familiar fashion brands like Oakley and Fossil with tech names like Sony, Charmed Technology and the MIT Media Laboratory.

Panasonic Mobile Bullish on China

Japan’s Panasonic Mobile Communications aims to have a two-digit share of China’s mobile phone market by the end of the year. The firm is betting on better tie-ups with Chinese mobile operators and a focus on the country’s high-end handsets to achieve its goal. “We expect to grab a 10 per cent share of China’s handset market in 2005,” said Taro Itakura, managing director of Panasonic Mobile Communications’ China operations.

TEPCO, KDDI to Cooperate

Tokyo Electric Power Co., Japan’s largest power company, has launched negotiations with telecom carrier KDDI Corp. for a possible capital tie-up or merger of their communications businesses, the Asahi Shimbun reported Tuesday.