The Japanese government plans to allow three or four companies to start offering high-speed wireless Internet Protocol phone services in 2007, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Thursday. The article said the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will formally unveil its plans for wireless IP phone services on Friday.
The CDMA Development Group (CDG) have announced the winners of the 2005 3G CDMA Industry Achievement Awards, which were presented at the 3G CDMA Americas Congress. “The CDMA community is leading in the delivery of 3G wireless services across the globe and there are many accomplishments to recognize,” said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. “The CDG congratulates all recipients of this year’s awards and applauds their contributions to making CDMA2000 the technology of choice for 3G.”
The Seventh International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, UbiComp 2005, was held September 11-14 in Tokyo, Japan. This annual conference provides the premier forum in which to present research results in all areas relating to the design, implementation, application and evaluation of ubiquitous computing technologies, bringing together leading researchers from a variety of disciplines and geographical areas who are exploring the frontiers of computing as it moves beyond the desktop and becomes increasingly interwoven into our mobile lives.
Organized to provide a productive forum in which international researchers and members of the industry can discuss key issues and future uses of ubiquitous computing that create compelling, and socially beneficial experiences, and to facilitate an exchange of ideas that will allow ubiquitous applications to break out of their current “niche” and into the mainstream.
DoCoMo has just announced that Cellcom Israel, Ltd. will start marketing DoCoMo’s i-mode service in the Israeli market as of today. The service, which will be offered over Cellcom’s GPRS network, is the eleventh market for i-mode, following Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Australia. DoCoMo sees great potential for i-mode growth in Israel, with its national population of approximately 7 million people.
O2 has promised its new found love for the i-mode data platform won’t see it kill off its own portal, O2 Active, which is based on WAP. Grahame Riddell, O2’s head of mobile data marketing, said the network has no plans to kill off O2 Active. “We will continue to support O2 Active and enhance its capabilities going forward,” he said. However, i-mode will be sold as the ‘premium’ data service alongside SMS.
Motorola and Ericsson have joined South Asia’s mobile alliance, a move that may help position their growth in the region. The alliance serves 69 million customers in eight countries. The size of their investment has not been determined and the joint venture is also in talks with telecom firms in Japan, South Korea and Thailand to broaden its reach. China’s second-largest telecom equipment maker, ZTE Corp., also participated in the joint venture.
