BREW
BREW

BREW

Multimedia Cellys: FM Keitai Rocks!

The “FM Keitai,” the most successful FM radio cell phone on planet Earth, is rocking the airwaves in Tokyo. There are over 450,000 users and DJs and announcers are voicing special messages intended just for phone listeners: “Please press the ‘Star’ button to get more information on product X.” Audio-loving mobilers can also download a digital clip of the currently playing song, thanks to BREW. It’s a media marketing dream come true, and it’s only the beginning. Full program run-time: 3:58

Portable Reportable audio updates are short, 3- to 5-minute news items in MP3 format. You can listen via PC or download and copy to your portable player for tomorrow morning’s commute. — Eds.

Japan Developers Win BREW Awards

At the BREW 2004 Developer Conference in San Diego, awards to honor stand-out BREW products and services were announced in six categories. EZFM and EZ Naviwalk won 1st prize in the Best Entertainment and Best Location-Based categories, respectively. Other Japanese entries from Edia Co., MediaSeek Inc., and Namco were selected as finalists in the information, entertainment and productivity categories.

ACCESS Announces First Full-Featured Browser for QUALCOMM'S BREW

ACCESS, a global provider of mobile content delivery and Internet access technologies, today announced that its NetFront v3.0 microbrowser is now available for QUALCOMM’s BREW(R) solution. With NetFront for BREW, mobile operators and handset manufacturers will have access to the some of the most advanced mobile browsing technology in the world. The company announced the product at the BREW 2004 Developers Conference being held June 7-9 in San Diego, California.

QUALCOMM Announces Finalists for Annual BREW Developer Awards

QUALCOMM Incorporated pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced the finalists for its annual BREW Developer Awards, which recognizes outstanding applications developed in the past year for the Company’s BREW solution. QUALCOMM will reveal the award-winning applications during the BREW 2004 Developers Conference, June 7-9, held at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina.

Vodaphone KK Unleashes 2.5G Terminal Blitz

It’s been a year or so, but finally Vodafone K.K. is attempting an aggressive rollout of impressive (albeit) 2/2.5G handset terminals clearly aimed at fun– and the young. Over the next couple of months the company is adding 5 terminals [.pdf here], including the new V602 from Sharp and V601 from Toshiba that have mulitimedia features even more impressive than those aboard DoCoMo 900i series, as well as an improved radio phone from Sanyo and a clearer TV picture from Sharp. Better still, last week’s news that Vodafone has decided to adopt a FeliCa compatible removable solution for contactless payments shows the company is definitely on board with promoting the mobile phone away from a communications/ game device into become a viable e-commerce tool not only here in Japan, but potentially accross the vast Vodafone empire.

ACCESS Announces NetFront v3.1 Browser for Symbian OS

ACCESS, a global provider of mobile Internet technologies, today announced the immediate availability of its NetFront v3.1 browser software for UIQ 2.x, a customizable user interface platform for smartphones based on the widely adopted Symbian OS. NetFront v3.1 redefines the mobile Internet browsing experience for UIQ 2.x devices with advanced rendering technologies like Smart-Fit Rendering(TM) and Rapid-Render(TM), two unique technologies that dramatically improve the quality and speed of the browsing experience. A free demonstration version of NetFront v3.1 for UIQ 2.x is available for download from the ACCESS Systems.