Japan and the advancing markets saw the largest year-on-year growth among adults who used the Internet via a wireless connection. However, wireless population growth was largely driven by the two biggest Internet markets, the U.S. and Japan, fuelling 69 percent of user increase and adding an estimated 15 million and 11.6 million new wireless Internet users, respectively. Wireless Internet also gained some popularity in Western Europe, South Korea and Urban China.
If the acronym HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) means nothing to you, read on because the technology behind this string of letters could soon significantly change the way you work and play on your mobile device. The technology, a rival to the EV-DO standard in CDMA deployed in the US and parts of Asia, promises something surprisingly missing in early 3G mobile networks — high data speeds similar to those of fixed-line ADSL services.
ACCESS announced that its NetFront i-mode Global Profile integrated software solution has been selected by Motorola for deployment in its E378i handset. This innovative handset will initially be offered by leading Spanish mobile operator Telefónica Móviles, with additional carrier deployments to follow.
ACCESS announced that its market leading NetFront(tm) browser has surpassed 150 million deployments worldwide. Widely recognized as one of the most advanced Internet browsers in the world, NetFront now also stands as the most widely deployed and actively used browser in the beyond-PC market, which includes mobile phones, PDAs, Digital Televisions, set-top boxes, digital televisions, automobile telematics, game consoles, Internet kiosks, email terminals, and many other Internet devices.
Worldwide demand for Wi-Fi and cellular converged services will reach 55 million by 2010. Western Europe, Japan and Korea will be key UMA markets and, as broadband penetration grows, China will quickly become a very attractive market. Wi-Fi and cellular convergence is about to hit the mainstream, with mobile operators planning to deploy UMA services over the next 12 months, according to a new report from Senza Fili Consulting, a consultancy focused on wireless data technologies and services.
Following last week’s announcement that a number of companies in the space were working on so-called Super 3G, both Samsung and LG spoke up against the group, suggesting it was really an attempt by NTT DoCoMo to do an end run around efforts to settle on a 4G standard. Ed’s Note: Interesting that Samsung’s comment ignored Vodafone which was also one of the 26 companies on this group announcement.
Xybernaut Corp. and Stargate Mobile LLC today announced a partnership relationship under which Xybernaut mobile/wireless computing technologies and Stargate integration and solution expertise will be combined into a single solution for a variety of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and after-market applications within the automotive industry. Under the relationship, Stargate has joined Team Xybernaut(TM) as a systems integrator and solution provider working with Xybernaut in the automotive sectors. Both companies have been working together for more than six months to develop and deploy the integrated computing platforms.
Kyocera has obtained a permit from the government to begin experiments of the “iBurst System,” ArrayComm’s wireless technology with maximum downstread of 1Mbps, and has begun testing the technology inside of their Yokohama office. The system is said to have a data receiving capability of a maximum of 1Mbps. Based on the TDD standard, a service using iBurst began in March of this year in Australia. The companies offer base station access via PC cards to clients on a monthly flat-rate data service package.
NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan’s leading mobile communications provider, and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC, the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, today announced that have formed an exclusive strategic partnership under which MTS will launch i-mode in Russia and other CIS countries. As a result of this agreement, i-mode will become available through 13 operations. This long-term agreement, signed today by these two leading mobile operators, will allow MTS to offer i-mode services to its in Russia via its GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks, with DoCoMo providing its brand name, know-how and technology. MTS plans to introduce i-mode in Russia before December 2005.
Reuters is reporting that NTT DoCoMo is close to signing a deal with Russia’s mobile phone firm Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) to license i-mode, potentially boosting MTS’s revenues, sources close to the matter said to Reuters. A cooperation agreement between the two firms will be signed on Friday, a different source in Moscow had said, without giving further details.
