Wireless News
Wireless News

Wireless News

KDDI Launches EZ TV Platform with Five New 3G Handsets

KDDI Launches EZ TV Platform with Five New Handsets

Japan’s Spring handset blitzkrieg is on the attack. Just last week, DoCoMo launched the first barrage with the five-model 901iS-series of phones boasting PDF file navigation capabilities and a four-megapixel model, the D901iS. Today, KDDI counterattacked with a press conference at the New Takanawa Prince Hotel announcing five June-release au handsets to support live analog TV reception and ramped-up EZ television features — plus a new SafetyNavi GPS function.

The handsets: W32SA by Sanyo; W31CA by Casio; W31T from Toshiba; A5511T also Toshiba; and the A5512CA by Casio. They integrate a mix of music and business functions: download capacity for attached mail has been expanded and one of the models, the W31CA, has a 3.2-megapixel camera, which is pretty good (but not as good as DoCoMo’s latest).

Previously, in order to save on packet fees, KDDI’s WIN platform EZ Channel provided late-night video content downloads for later viewing. Flat-rate services have now produced an EZ Television channel for live analog terrestrial TV programming right to the mobile. Dubbed “interactive TV” by KDDI, the new handsets can record TV theme songs, soundtracks and commercial jingles as BGM (background music) via the Chaku Uta full music download feature. There’s also a search & buy function for CDs used in programs or commercials. For an extra fee, users can subscribe to Premium or Deluxe EZ TV services. Premium costs an additional 210 yen/month and adds remote recording functionality; Deluxe allows users to pre-register names and programs for automatic recording at 315 yen.

ACCESS and Abaxia Collaborate to Deliver New Data Capture Paradigm to Mobile

ACCESS announced that it has collaborated with Abaxia to integrate its MobileTag 2D barcode reader solution with ACCESS’ NetFront® Mobile Client Suite, the world’s most advanced, integrated browser-based software solution for advanced multimedia-enabled mobile phones. The joint solution enables a new data capture model between mobile devices and barcode-enabled applications like advertisements, brochures, posters, direct-mailers, or any object that can support a barcode.

Mitsui Invests in Mobile Multimedia

Japanese corporate powerhouse Mitsui is making moves on international mobile markets. The company has invested US$8.2 million in Buongiorno Vitaminic’s US operations. Mitsui’s equity investment gives the Japanese trading company a minority position in Buongiorno US with shares totaling 19.9 percent. While Buongiorno Vitaminic may sound like a health drink, the company is actually a five-year old Italian multinational handling multimedia content for telephony and digital channels. The company maintains a presence in all major European markets and is pushing into the US as well.

Japan Cell Phone Sales Drop

Domestic shipments of cellular and automobile phones in Japan totaled 44.77 million units in fiscal 2004 that ended March 31, down 12.2 percent from the previous year for the first decrease in three years, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association reported Tuesday.

W3C Launches Mobile Web Initiative (MWI)

Today, at the WWW2005 Conference, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced the launch of the Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) – an endeavor to make Web access from a mobile device as simple, easy, and convenient as Web access from a desktop device. “Mobile access to the Web has been a second class experience for far too long,” explained Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. “MWI recognizes the mobile device as a first class participant, and will produce materials to help developers make the mobile Web experience worthwhile. “

DoCoMo Sells Stake in Hutchison 3G

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that it will complete the sale of its 20% stake in Hutchison 3G UK Holdings Limited (“H3G UK”) to Hutchison Whampoa Limited (“HWL”) on June 23, 2005. DoCoMo will record a gain on sale of affiliate shares of approximately 62 billion yen on a consolidated basis in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 including foreign currency translation adjustment and as a result, will amend its consolidated financial forecasts, which were announced on May 10, 2005.