3G
3G

Japan Telecommunication Equipment Production and Trade Figures

Japan Telecommunication Equipment Production and Trade FiguresThe Communications and Information Network Association of Japan has just released a report detailing the overall value of domestic production for Q1-05. It quoted totals for the April–June quarter at 620.3 billion yen, a reduction of 2.4 percent over the same quarter last year. The total value of production excluding cellular phones was 222.4 billion yen, a growth of 2.5 percent year on year. While network equipment and parts, such as routers and hubs, recorded healthy figures due to the switch to IP and broadband networks, cellular phones, which make up two-thirds of the market, dragged the total figure down, resulting in a slight reduction overall.

The production figure for cellular phones decreased by 5.4 percent over the same quarter of the previous year to 392.5 billion yen, resulting from fewer new subscribers and a negative rebound from the growth spurt in the January–March 2005 quarter. The July–September quarter is expected to return to positive growth with growing demand for IP network equipment and upgrade sales in conjunction with the expansion of 3G cellular phone services.

Ticket Guru Pia Goes For 3G Gaming

Japanese ticket and entertainment publishing powerhouse Pia has made its first tentative foray into mobile gaming in a tie-up with DoCoMo. Pet simulation game AquaZone swam onto i-mode screens a few days ago through Pia’s partnership with Frontier Group and its subsidiary Pia Digital Communications [press release in Japanese]. The PC version of AquaZone’s virtual Aquarium is already a hit with fish fanciers here and even on the small screen DoCoMo’s Foma 3G graphics keep the colors bright and clear. Subscriptions cost 315 yen per month (US$2.87).

Japanese Cell Phone Sales Set to Surge in 2006

Japanese Cell Phone Sales Set to Surge in 2006

Market research firm Gartner Japan has good news and bad news for cell phone manufacturers and telecos. The company predicts Japanese handsets sales could reach 49 million units in 2006 as mobile number portability finally makes it debut and consumers trade up to faster, smarter handsets on their carrier of choice. That’s good news since sales for 2005 are looking rather flat especially compared to those halcyon days of 2003 when the debut of the camera phone helped drive sales to over 48 million units. Bad news is that Gartner’s research [.pdf in Japanese] indicates sales will fall again sometime in 2007 once consumers have replaced their current handsets.

Of course it doesn’t take costly research to know telecos here have a lot to worry about. With the domestic cell phone market fast reaching saturation point DoCoMo, KDDI and Vodafone will have to depend not only on handset replacement but rolling out comprehensive mobile consumer, retail, and data-related services — both in-house and through partners — to retain customers and keep income flowing in the right direction.

Motorola Acquires i-Mode R&D Team

Motorola confirmed that it has acquired a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Melco Mobile Communication Europe (MMCE), and it’s European team of i-mode design employees and a research center in western France. The Rennes facility will become a European i-mode focused development center for Motorola, continuing to operate in its state-of-the-art research and design center in Cesson-Sevigne (Rennes), France. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Opera Browser for the Hitachi W32H

Opera Software announced yesterday that their browser is included on the Hitachi W32H for KDDI’s 3G network in Japan. The release of this new, BREW-based mobile phone coincides with the one-year anniversary of Opera Software’s agreement with KDDI. The Hitachi W32H will be released in September and is the fifth mobile phone with Opera delivered by KDDI within one year. Opera Software announced its agreement with KDDI in August 2004 and together they shipped the first phone in December 2004, making Opera the first full Internet browser on the Japanese 3G network.

Jazelle for New DoCoMo 3G Phones

ARM has announced that their Jazelle technology will be deployed in a new line of FOMA handsets by NTT DoCoMo. Emerging applications such as mobile games and business tools place increased performance and power demands on Java technology-enabled handsets. Through ARM’s partnership with Aplix Corporation, a global leader in deploying Java technology in mobile phones, ARM Jazelle technology is being adopted in the DoJa/Java platform for FOMA handsets, which is being jointly developed by Aplix and NTT DoCoMo.