Sign of the Times
Sign of the Times

Sign of the Times

Qualcomm to Integrate Windows OS

Qualcomm and Microsoft will work together to port the Windows Mobile operating system to certain Qualcomm chips, speeding time to market and potentially dropping the price of smart phones, the companies said. The chips are expected to become available to handset makers in the second half of this year and should hit shelves in 2007. By integrating and testing support for Windows Mobile on Qualcomm’s Mobile Station Modem chips, the companies hope to help device makers speed product development times.

NEC Talking 3-Way Tie-up

NEC and Matsushita (Panasonic) are in talks to extend their co-operation in the mobile phone sector in an effort to ensure survival in the overcrowded Japanese market, NEC’s president said on Monday. The expanded collaboration would focus on handset manufacturing and could include the joint procurement of components and further collaboration in research and development. The two groups already co-operate in 3G technology research. According to reports, three-way talks among NEC, Matsushita and Texas Instruments Inc. about cellphone cooperation are in their final stage. The consolidation strategy was mentioned by NEC’s incoming president, Kaoru Yano, in March.

The Girls Love Mobile Manga

We noticed in a online recent article that the most prominent mobile manga viewers are actually female! Apparently statistics show more than half of the viewers are women and some stories are dominated by majority of 70 percent or more. So, when do those ladies watch manga..?!? According to the story a spokeman said: “Midnight, just before falling asleep in her bed, she watches quietly under the blanket… that’s the trend, I guess.”

Sharp Tops Japan Mobile

Sharp Corp. overtook NEC Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. as Japan’s biggest mobile phone maker by shipments for the first time, MM Research Institute said in a report dated yesterday. Shipments by Sharp gained 20 percent to 7.6 million units in the year ended March 31, accounting for 16.3 percent of the total 46.3 million shipments, the researcher said.

Desirable Mobile Services for the Future

Info-Plant has issued a very interesting report on mobile-phone usage in Japan focusing on ‘Desirable Mobile Functions and Services’. Data was collected via a nationwide survey of mobile phone users from the networks of NTT DoCoMo, KDDI/au, and Vodafone and valid responses were received from 7,905 users. Questions asked what mobile phone functions or services were used regularly and respondents were asked to list the services or functions they would like to see added to mobile phones in the future (log in for details).

3G Lessons Learnt – Buyer Beware

BusinessWire has a press release from the folks at Analysys stating that 3G in Japan has hit 40 percent penetration. While we agree that “Mobile operators in Japan and South Korea have consistently led the world in the development of innovative mobile services and technology” and “They have unrivalled track records of introducing new handset capabilities and services, and they are currently the only markets to achieve mainstream adoption of services delivered by 3G networks,” that “40” number is way too low. According to a TCA offical report, the 50 percent mark was actually reached here back in February.