3G
3G

3G

Second Life Japan Mobile in Beta

Second Life Japan’s mobile application is slated for public launch here on December 15th and the company is going into recruiting mode for 100 beta users to take the new service for a test-drive. The mobile version will offer both limited free and full paid monthly subscription accounts, 315jpy per month including 300 Linden dollars, and appears to be initially targeted at DoCoMo handsets from the 3G FOMA 700 and 900 series. Clients are strongly urged to make sure they have a flat-rate data plan!

DoCoMo Eyes Mobile Commerce in China

NTT DoCoMo and UFIDA Software Co., Ltd., a leading provider of management software solutions and services in Asia, are waiting for the final approval from Chinese authorities to establish a mobile ecommerce joint venture between the companies. UFIDA Mobile has announced its development strategy for m-commerce in China and plans to deploy their first full-scale mobile commerce platform in the eastern region.

3G Phones Sales Jump in August

According to Seeking Alpha, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association [JEITA], stated mobile phone shipments in Japan has climbed 39.1 percent to hit a total of 4.2 million units in August. “The industry group attributed greatly the rise in the shipments to a surge in the number of handsets able to receive digital terrestrial television broadcasts. The report said that shipments of 3G handsets climbed 50.7 percent on year to 4 million units, compared to shipments of 2G handsets went down 93 pct to 17,000 units.”

Casio Bullish on Overseas Handset Sales

Casio expects a 10 billion yen ($86 million) investment in new mobile phone models to return a profit in the first year, helped by sales of handsets equipped with its Exilim camera and G-Shock watch technologies. The handsets, based on the W-CDMA standard, will be sold at a higher profit margin than earlier models, said Tateki Ohishi, chief executive officer of Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications Co., the Tokyo-based company’s venture with Hitachi Ltd. Full Story Here.

Kyocera to Acquire Sanyo Mobile Unit

According to the Nikkei, via Reuters, Kyocera and Sanyo are close to inking a deal that would merge the device makers into the world’s seventh largest mobile phone manufacturer. The business daily stated Kyocera aims to buy Sanyo’s mobile phone operations for about 50 billion yen ($435 million), Sanyo expects to sell about 11 million units in the current business year to March 2008, down from its initial estimates of 12.5-12.6 million. Both Kyocera and Sanyo said in separate statements that nothing has been decided.