QUALCOMM, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology; IDG Technology Venture, a US venture fund focusing on the information technology industry in China and TOMOnline, a leading mobile Internet company in China, today announced the successful closing of a US$3.5 million investment in Sichuan Great Wall Software Group.
Enormous advances in wireless communications are ushering in a new era wherein organisations can dramatically improve productivity and efficiency, enhance competitive advantage and greatly benefit from more efficient communications with customers, vendors and key staff. New analysis from Technical Insights states: “Enterprises today are seeing real benefits from the use of mobile devices and applications. However, for m-commerce to grow significantly, a fully developed mobile communications network, ever more sophisticated devices and killer applications that enable ‘anytime, anywhere’ access of information [are] essential.”
In 2004, global spending on 3G infrastructure equipment will rise to $8.8 billion, doubling the $4.4 billion spent in 2003, according to a report by market research firm iSuppli. The firm noted that as of June, 30 commercial WCDMA 3G networks and 12 commercial CDMA2000 1xEV-DO 3G networks were operating in Europe, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and South America. This will help boost overall global capital expenditures for wireless infrastructure to $29.9 billion in 2004, up 15.4 percent from $25.9 billion in 2003.
Aplix Corporation announced today a cooperative agreement with NTT DoCoMo, Inc. to jointly develop a DoJa/JavaTM platform prototype for FOMA(r) devices. DoJa/Java platform is the application execution environment for NTT DoCoMo’s i-appli(r). The two companies will develop a platform for FOMA based on Aplix’s JBlendTM platform technology. Through this joint development, the two companies will assess performance enhancements of the DoJa/Java platform and the possibility of reducing development costs by standardizing the i-appli execution environment.
Ryozanpaku International, Inc., announced today that it has successfully established itself as an authorized Docomo i-mode content provider in Japan. Japanese consumers can now access the latest news and information on the Pachinko industry directly from their mobile phones. In April 2004, Ryozanpaku entered into a service and revenue sharing agreement with MS Communications Co., Ltd. Under the agreement Ryozanpaku is an authorized Docomo i-mode content provider and is permitted to deliver its proprietary content over the Docomo i-mode network.
UPDATE 2: The Feature has “sort of” come clean, admitting their original story that DoCoMo was going to “drop i-mode” was utter rubbish. Of course, we smelt a rat as soon as the story, written by someone poorly translating a Japanese source, flashed around tech pages, as noted from the text following this update…”This story sounds a little fishy to us, since the reference to a Nikkei Shimbun story came from Total Telecom via Techdirt we’ve done some quick fact checks and seems that perhaps its a translation issue and/or a mis-understanding of terms.”
While it is true that DoCoMo is beginning to push migration of 2G (PDC) users to their 3G (W-CDMA) network, that has nothing to do with the i-mode service itself. Most telling is that NE AsiaBP who run the english side of Nikkei have no mention of what would be perhaps one of the most significant stories coming out of Tokyo this month.
UPDATE FINAL: We asked for clarification from DoCoMo PR and will set the record straight. “There is definitely no plan to end the i-mode brand in Japan,” according to the company’s Masanori Goto Saturday on July 24 at 16:00 JST.
