NTT DoCoMo Inc will halt development of new 2G (second-generation) cellular phone handsets after about two new models are released this year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. Panasonic Mobile Communications Co and others that co-develop handsets with DoCoMo have already halted R&D operations for the products, the business daily said.
A first for a Korean manufacturer, LG Electronics Inc. is looking to set foot in the Japanese mobile phone market, the Seoul-based company said over the weekend. LG Electronics, the country’s second-largest electronics company, recently formed a task force to handle negotiations with NTT DoCoMo, the largest wireless communications company in Japan. Executives said that the company is aiming to supply 3G handsets to the Japanese communications giant.
Panasonic unveiled its ultra-small low-power wireless module by incorporating a radio circuit and a microcomputer onto a single CMOS LSI chip, the world’s first in 400-MHz band low-power wireless technology. The tiny high-speed wireless module is suitable for a wide range of home and industrial applications. Panasonic has applied for 78 patents on the new module in Japan, of which 11 have so far been granted, and two patents overseas.
Vodafone Japan has two new handsets ready to roll this July perfect for fashionistas and metrosexual males with finicky phone fetishes. Tightly fitting silicon costume covers, ala Trinity, have been designed to slip onto the sleek clamshell bodies of the V501T from Toshiba and Sharp’s V501SH handset for a very different sort of custom look. The V501T has twelve wild interchangeable cover designs. These are not just reflective overlays but full-on, 3-D cushy covers changing the look and feel of the phone to, well, something else.
As all Wireless Watchers will know, the youth market in the Asia-Pacific region is becoming a significant driver for growth in the region’s mobile-phone market, according to a report by In-Stat. Around 10-15 percent of all youth disposable income is spent on mobile products in developed countries, displacing spending on traditional youth products like clothing, toys, comic books, etc., while messaging accounted for 40.3 percent of Asian mobile youth data expenditures in 2004.
Bandai, creator of “The Power Rangers” and “Ultraman”, valued at 236.5 billion yen, may merge with Namco, who created “Pac-Man,” and has a market value of 154.9 billion yen, to create Japan’s second-biggest toy and video-game maker. The companies will combine as early as September under a holding company run by Bandai President Takeo Takasu and Namco Vice Chairman Kyushiro Takagi, according to Nihon Keizai shimbun article today. The companies may also develop content for high-speed Internet access and mobile phone users, the newspaper said.
KDDI will export BREW-based mobile game know-how to American telecoms hungry for advanced mobile content. Game producers Interactive Brains and Mobcast Inc. are KDDI’s first partners in this venture. Mobcast will initially supply two games: a quick-draw shooting game, ‘Hayauchi Gunman’ and ‘Photo Aquarium,’ which lets you decorate pictures on a mobile phone with a mobile aquarium. Interactive Brains will provide a high-speed 3-D racing game, Lightstream, available here on Vodafone and au. The content will be offered by the Japanese game makers with KDDI providing collection services and taking a cut of the action. The company also intends to localize game software itself for marketing and distribution on overseas networks. According to Interactive Brains, their game is scheduled for release in the US between late summer and autumn.
Here kitty, kitty. The Sanrio Hello Kitty Bearbrick special version Apple iPod is hardly cold on Sanrio store shelves when here comes another audio player full of Hello Kitty’s megabrand of marketable goodness: NHJ’s digital audio player helps cool cats customize a meow mix of music via 256 megas of built-in flash memory boosted by SD memory cards (up to 512 MB). Compared to the iPods mini’s fat, 1,000-song capacity, this is just kibble at a mere 192 songs a shot. But this unit targets those who buy Hello Kitty rice cookers, toaster ovens, computer monitors and tissue box covers, not hard-core mobile audiophiles.
Internet service provider Livedoor is reportedly partnering with PoweredCom to set up some 100 WLAN access points in central Tokyo around the busy Yamanote train line according to a report by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. PoweredCom is the fixed-line service arm of TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company. Though Tepco dominates PoweredCom with a share of 83.81 percent, other powerful investors include Mitsui and Mitsubishi. The Nikkei reports Livedoor’s investment in this venture is expected to hit 2-3 billion yen. The service, based on IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g WLAN standards, will be available for a monthly fee.
Sony’s portable PSP game machine is going mano-a-mano with Nintendo’s cool dual-screen DS for top handheld game gadget on both sides of the Pacific. Nintendo’s two 3-inch screens, touch-sensitive interaction, “Pictochat” instant messaging and WiFi connectivity to other DS machines have made a hit with players. In Japan, Nintendo just released the machine in four additional colors, packaging them with new virtual pet game, Nintendogs. Now WWJ has found out that Sony’s PSP goes one better with a trick that will make technogeeks sit up and beg — the Japanese version of the PSP apparently (and unintentionally) works electronic wizardry on Aibo the wonder ‘bot as well! Japanese entertainment weekly Famitsu put the PSP through its paces in their 15 April issue and sure enough: pressing combinations of buttons on the PSP will make Aibo do different tricks -– no hacking necessary!
