KDDI has just announced yet another 3G handset, dubbed ‘Talby’ [.jpg image], the third from their in-house Au Design Project. This super-slim fashionable unit, styled by Marc Newson, has a built-in antenna and is set to hit store shelves in Japan by December. It’s a Flash-enabled model with a QVGA screen, 2D bar-code reader, and BREW.
ACCESS, a global provider of mobile content delivery and Internet access technologies, today announced the availability of NetFront v3.2 for the Nokia 6670 smartphone and other Series 60 smartphones. NetFront v3.2 for Nokia Series 60, the latest version of the world’s most widely deployed and actively used embedded browser, provides an optimum browser solution for Series 60 mobile professionals. NetFront v3.2 for Nokia Series 60 will be available as a preinstalled application on the MMC (MultiMedia Card) included with the new Nokia 6670 phone and will also be available from Nokia Software Market (www.softwaremarket.nokia.com) and Handango (www.handango.com) later this month.
In his 14 September WWJ Viewpoint, Philip Sugai raised some valid criticisms of the new TV cell phones and points to both technological and end-user behavior limitations that he believes doom TV phones to “DOA” status. Of these, the behavioral problems appear to be the most difficult to overcome. These criticisms, however, seriously underestimate both the technological developments that the devices will undergo in the next 18-24 months as well as the imagination and creativity that Japan’s end-users and broadcasters will apply to receiving and delivering, respectively, useful content via mobile TV (and FM radio).
Part 2 of a two-part series. Previously: MobileTV: Hype or Reality?, by Professor Philip Sugai.)
ACCESS Co., Ltd., a global provider of mobile content delivery and Internet access technologies, today announced the immediate availability of its new i-mode Global Profile, an integrated software solution that is optimized for the i-mode services deployed NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode alliance partners. i-mode Global Profile is a new profile that forms part of ACCESS’ NetFront Mobile Client Suite. i-mode Global Profile includes ACCESS’ market-leading NetFront technology as well as a Multi-Media Messaging Client, Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and an SSL encryption module. All technologies comprising i-mode Global Profile were developed by ACCESS and offer tight integration and functionality optimized specifically for i-mode.
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc., a global leader in wireless data technology, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Kivera, Inc., subject to customary conditions to closing. Kivera brings to TCS leading, proven wireless and internet-based location application software, geo-data professional service contracts, relationships with marquee customers, and leading geographical data sources.
Sun Microsystems expects that local mobile-phone operator KT Freetel’s decision to use Sun’s Java technology for mobile data services will speed the development of the non-voice mobile-phone applications that are increasingly becoming a focus of competition. KTF’s decision follows a Korean government mandate that mobile-phone carriers use the homegrown “Wireless Internet Platform for Interoperability” (WIPI) from next year for mobile Internet access and data applications.
