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3GSM 2007 Award Winners

The 12th Annual GSM Association Global Mobile Awards were announced last night in Barcelona at the annual industry event which showcases the best of the mobile world. The stars of the night were the 2007 Global Mobile Awards winners, whose achievements provide an insight into the services, devices and innovation that are taking the mobile industry forward. Sony Ericsson’s K800 CyberShot handset won best 3G handset and Tokyo based I-play’s “The Fast and the Furious” took Best Made for Mobile Game. See the full category list and winners after the jump.

Japan Mobile Industry News Mash-up

It’s been a rather hectic few weeks here, as mentioned at the end of our latest WWJ Newsletter, so we thought a chocolate covered bundle of tidbits would be in order today. With 3GSM running this week in Barcelona, on top of the usual post January speed cycle, we’ve clipped over a dozen highlights together for a sweetheart ‘Valentines Eve’ post chalk full of wireless news goodies collected over the last little while, just for you after the jump.

Tegic Communications Launches T9 Discovery Tool

Tegic Communications Launches T9 Discovery ToolTegic Communications has announced the availability of their new T9 Discovery Tool, a software application that will allow consumers to locate or discover content and information, whether on their cellphone or on the mobile web, in just a few keystrokes. Wireless Watch Japan caught up with Tony De Ruvo, director of product marketing, at the recent Marcus Evans 3G Forum here in Tokyo for an advanced preview and chat on-camera about the new product.

Of course, many people in the industry believe that complex menu navigation and portal designs are a major obstacle to accessing content and services, and consider this to be a limiting factor to greater data service uptake and growth. According to the company press release, the T9 Discovery Tool uses unique insights that Tegic has gained from shipping their T9 predictive text entry software in 62 languages on over two billion phones to make mobile search and discovery fast and easy.

The Discovery Tool search interface can be instantly activated from the idle screen, delivering immediate access to menu areas, applications and stored content on the device and to operator content and services held on the network. Improving the speed, discovery, and re-use of operator services, this new tool may help open up new revenue opportunities for carriers by making it dramatically easier for consumers to discover or search for content and services, whether held on or off the operator portal.

DoCoMo Announces New 3G Platform JV

NTT DoCoMo, Renesas, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Sharp and Sony Ericsson have announced that they plan to jointly develop a next-generation mobile phone platform with completion targeted for mid-2008. Renesas plans to provide the platform to the global W-CDMA market, in addition to customers in Japan, aiming to further reduce costs. The six companies have agreed to the joint development project in an effort to provide advanced functionality – with a common base – for 3G handsets worldwide.

DoCoMo 703i-Series Roll-Out

Several more of Docomo’s latest 3G models, as announced in January, are rolling-out here this weekend. While the N703i by NEC was available last week, the Panasonic, Mitsubishi and waterproof! Fujitsu 703i’s hit the store shelves on Feb. 2nd. We have noticed an unusually aggressive amount of advertising – both outdoor and on TV – for these new models, so the TCA results in early March should be rather interesting.

ITU to make WiMAX a 3G standard

WiMAX Day, a newsletter published by the WiMAX Spectrum Owners Alliance, reported the ITU Working Party 8F met in Cameroon at the end of January to look at IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000. Such a move would bring considerable benefits by allowing WiMAX to operate in globally allocated frequency bands, enable global roaming and reduce equipment costs.