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BREW

Omron's Face Recognition for Mobile

OKAO Vision Face Recognition Sensor technology for camera-enabled cell phones and other devices is an alternative to passwords or fingerprint scanners for security and access control. “The technology detects 80 points on the face” explained Mr. Masato Kawade, Senior Manager of Sensing & Control Technology Lab. The sensor tests successfully more than 99 times in 100, and is fully Symbian, BREW, embedded Linux, and ITRON OS compatible. “We feel there is a large potential in overseas markets.” said Kawade.

Mitsubishi Electric Selects ACCESS NetFront i-mode Global Profile

ACCESS announced that its NetFront(r) i-mode(tm) Global Profile integrated software solution was selected by Mitsubishi Electric for deployment in its M430i i-mode handset. The M430i is currently offered by leading i-mode operators such as Bouygues Telecom, COSMOTE, E-Plus, Far EastTone, KPN Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, BASE, Telestra, and WIND, with additional i-mode operators to follow. NetFront i-mode Global Profile is a comprehensive, integrated solution specifically optimized for the i-mode Global service. It offers operators and their handset partners seamless i-mode Global deployments while reducing overall cost and time-to-market.

BREW Developers Japan Seminar

Qualcomm has announced that Digital Hollywood will host the upcoming BREW developers’ seminar event to be held in Tokyo on 26 April. KDDI is also on board as co-sponsor offering workshops at their Harajuku Designing Studio for two days in June. Full details [in Jpn.] from their Press Release; access BrewJapan.com site, which has a limited English section available.

Insider Visit to Tokyo's Hottest Mobile Players

Wireless Watch Japan will produce the third Mobile Intelligence mission to Tokyo, 17-22 April 2005, providing an in-depth study of the success factors, companies and technologies that have boosted Japan’s mobile Internet into the world’s No. 1 position. Full Press Release Here

In the past year, new third-generation (3G) wireless Internet services have won millions of mobile consumer customers with QR bar-code readers, e-wallet-based m-commerce, mobile TV, and CD-quality music downloading all enjoying fast consumer uptake. Furthermore, flat-rate data pricing, convergence between cellular, VoIP and fixed wireless services, and per-event billing are all fundamentally reshaping mobile business models. Nonetheless, as Japan’s carriers perfect their 3G survival strategies, they find that 3G ARPUs are actually higher than on older 2G systems.

Some of Japan's Cool New Apps

In a telephone interview with a research company in Toronto last night, I was asked for examples of the coolest new applications or services in Japan. Without a doubt, I answered, mobile music and the Chaku Uta Full song download services are really eating up packet bandwidth. The week before last, KDDI announced that the cumulative downloads for EZ Chaku Uta Full (provided via the CDMA 1X EV-DO WIN network) had surpassed 3 million as of 1 March 2005, less than four months after the 19 November 2004 launch. The company added that the 1 million and 2 million milestones were achieved on 5 January and 5 February, respectively.

From the WWJ Newsletter. Log in to read full article. To receive WWJ’s free email newsletter, subscribe here.

Sweet New Sanyo 3G Phone

KDDI has just announced a new addition to their line-up of 3G handsets made by Sanyo [.jpg image] to go on sale starting tomorrow in the Kanto region. Aside from glowing candy colors like “Pink Mousse” and “Mango Pudding” — sure to please the young, hip, teen crowd — it also has a unique GPS function so the parents will know where the kids are located when they send email. The ultra-high-density QVGA display combined with ‘Smart-Mode’ and ‘friendly design’ also has BREW, QR code reading and Navi-Walk functions onboard, making it a certain smash hit with the ‘tween crowd this spring.