Japan Radio Co. will release their new AH-J3003S candybar phone [.jpg image], intended for use with DDI Pocket’s Air-H” PHS network, on 15 July. In addition to being loaded with ACCESS’s HTML-supporting Web browser, Compact NetFront, the phone supports up to three POP3 and SMTP email accounts and is SSL-enabled. It also comes equipped with an onboard Mini-B-type USB port for synching data with your home PC.
Microsoft will take its first step toward a true open source-like OS when it releases Windows CE 5.0 to the public July 9. However, it will not end the licensing program for the mobile OS, there will still be a $3 license fee for every device using Windows CE code. Microsoft has been expanding the scope of its Shared Source Initiative (SSI) for the past few years in response to criticism that it was too closed when it came to allowing third-party developers to create applications based on the Windows OS.
Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co. already ply their wares in cinemas, on television and over the Internet. Now they’re reaching into the mobile phone in your pocket. Some phones can already display pictures and replay video clips, but as networks get faster, it will be possible to watch live newscasts or even a whole movie on wireless gadgets. “The opportunity would be based on an ability to provide a very targeted service to a very targeted customer base,” said Steve Wadsworth, president of Disney’s Internet Group. Disney’s Wadsworth said its wireless business is already profitable in markets where it is well established. Disney first started selling mobile content in 2000 via a partnership with Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc.
Starcom Worldwide Japan won a golden lion at Cannes in the Best use of Internet/New Media category for the Vidal Sassoon Branding i-mode project. The ‘Become an Angel’ cellphone promotion was a game that ran over seven weeks as opposed to simply collecting points and was deemed more engaging as users got to design, build and download to keep, their own custom image.
Next-generation telephone services — collectively: 3G — are finally turning the corner on profitability in Japan after years of loss-making investment. Pyramid Research says this will the the year for high speed telephone data networks in Japan as subscribers are beginning to buy seriously into 3G technology.
Telstra expects more than one million Australians will pay $500 for new handsets, plus an extra $10-$17 per month for content, when the telco launches its own version of the i-mode mobile phone content service before Christmas. The Australian carrier became the first telco in the English-speaking world to sign up with the Japanese telco, NTT DoCoMo, which claims 41 million subscribers for the service in its own country.
