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SoftBank Mobile Comes Out Swinging

WWJ Editors, 28 September 2006
SoftBank Mobile Comes Out Swinging by Mobikyo KKThe long summer silence from SoftBank on the rebranding of Vodafone K.K. to SoftBank Mobile is over with no less than 12 press releases issued today in advance of the official launch on 1 October. The company has introduced 13 new handsets, a variety of updated service offerings and new personnel. As mobile number portability (MNP) arrives on 24 October, and with strong competition from market leader NTT DoCoMo and No. 2 carrier KDDI, the struggling former Vodafone franchise clearly needed to get their house in order.

Some little-known news: Industry insiders here were surprised to learn in late August that the long-time head of Qualcomm Japan, Ted Matsumoto, had moved over to SoftBank taking on the title of CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) for Masayoshi Son’s newly minted celco. The official announcement was made during a wide ranging press conference that also introduced Cameron Diaz as the star attraction for their new advertising campaign that planned to blitz TV and outdoor ads over the coming weeks.

On the network front, they have announced that ‘Super 3G’ (HSDPA), with availability limited to the greater Tokyo area, will start in October to service their new HTC – X01HT smartphone. This Windows Mobile-enabled unit will default to regular W-CDMA (or GSM/GPRS overseas) in areas without high-speed coverage. The company also announced new applications and services ranging from the widely expected Yahoo Mobile Search integration, “Hot Talk” instant messenger, a “3D Town” event guide map, and – finally – a “Live Monitor” scrolling text push service.

DoCoMo Announces HSDPA Data Card

NTT DoCoMo announced today that starting September 29, they will market the FOMA M2501 HIGH-SPEED PCMCIA Type II data card [ .jpg image ] for speedy mobile packet transmissions with PCs. Downlink speeds of up to 3.6Mbps are available in HSDPA service areas in Japan. The card works on W-CDMA, GSM and GPRS networks.

KDDI and Opera Renew Commitment

Opera Software and KDDI have announced a renewal of their commitment to include the Opera mobile browser on KDDI’s 3G handsets in Japan. KDDI and Opera first entered into a partnership in August 2004 to fulfill the promise of 3G capabilities in Japan, and the browser has since been included on 27 KDDI phones.

DoCoMo Sets BlackBerry Launch Date

DoCoMo have just announced they will start marketing a BlackBerry handheld device and BlackBerry-enabled service on 26 September 2006. The BlackBerry 8707h, made by Research In Motion Limited (RIM), and DoCoMo’s BlackBerry Network Service – enabling RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Solution – will be targeted at corporate customers. The BlackBerry 8707h operates on both W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS networks and can be used overseas for voice and packet (data) communications. WWJ has been following this story; see our related posts here and here.

DoCoMo Mobile Credit: Everything You Know About 3G is Useless

DoCoMo Mobile Credit: Everything You Know About 3G is Useless by Mobikyo KKWWJ has spotted the first presence of NTT DoCoMo’s ‘DCMX’ mobile credit (card) service on the streets of Tokyo and, once again, the future has arrived. Lawrence Cosh-Ishii, WWJ’s director of digital media, en route to a central Tokyo video shoot a few days ago, spied the first street-level advert for retail goods payable via DCMX (image at right).

Predictably, the pitch came from Girl’s Walker, Xavel’s icon of community-centric, user-recommended mobile shopping, which earned the company Pharaonic riches long before dusty old ‘blogs’ were ever invented. Girl’s Walker is touting a special fall line of fashionable goods that can be paid for via “DoCoMo credit,” which takes the form of a real credit payment for adults, or the purchase cost is added to the monthly phone bill, for cash-flush, under-age teens. Note no reference to any sort of ‘card’ – the service is the phone, and credit ‘cards’ are oh-so-1970s.

DCMX is shaping up to be the main pillar in DoCoMo’s consumer financial services strategy that will lock in mobilers and secure massive revenues long after 3G – and the mere delivery of mobile digital content – has become a low-margin sideline that markets elsewhere still can’t comprehend. DCMX isn’t merely the the ‘Next Big Thing’ – it’s everything; and it’s going to make 3G itself redundant (WWJ subscribers log in for full viewpoint and details on the DCMX mobile credit service).

KDDI in PR Blitz

KDDI has just added a few tasty tidbits on their recent announcements: the new W43S handset by Sony Ericsson is ready to roll as of Friday, 15 September, and they will have some interesting new BREW titles (including mobile multiplayers) on display at next week’s Tokyo Game Show. As an apparent counter measure to the free iPod Nano ‘bribe’ just announced by SoftBank Mobile, KDDI has also introduced the new “Large Satisfaction Campaign,” which will offer a variety of prizes for new users.. whew!

NEC Bullish on IC Platform Performance

NEC Electronics is looking for a sharp increase in profitability based on sales of platform ICs, particularly for mobile phones, according to CEO Toshio Nakajima. Last year, NEC Electronics had an 11 per cent market share in WCDMA baseband chips, behind Texas Instruments (TI) 42 per cent market share and Qualcomm’s 26 per cent, according to analyst iSuppli. Behind the plan is the development of platform ICs such as those envisaged by the recent Adcore-Tech consortium between NEC, NEC Electronics, Matsushita, Panasonic Mobile and TI.

NEC Joins KDDI's Corporate WLAN Offering

KDDI has issued a follow-up to their spring announcement regarding the dual-mode CDMA 1x and corporate WLAN network service offering. The corporate mobile business solution service, or so-called “Office Freedom” campaign, will now also use NEC’s Univerge SV7000 for SIP access point hardware, with the E02SA BREW handset from Sanyo. DoCoMo have also been working in this area over the last few years to provide major corporate clients, such as Toyota and JAL, the in-house VoIP ability using NEC’s 900iL handset.

KDDI Confirms Network Upgrade

KDDI has announced it would invest 200 billion yen ($1.73 billion) over the next three years on upgrading its network to CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A technology. KDDI’s Y200bn network upgrade will begin in December with consumers in urban areas benefiting first. Its total investment budget for the year ending March 2007 is Y333bn, a 21 per cent increase on the 2005-06 budget.

NEC, Panasonic and TI Form Handset JV

NEC, NEC Electronics, Matsushita, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Texas Instruments just announced that the five companies have signed an agreement to establish a new joint venture company. The company will conduct global development, design, and technology licensing for a hardware and software communications platform to manage the core communications functions for 3G handsets. The new company, Adcore-Tech Co., Ltd (“Adcore-Tech”), is scheduled to be established in August, 2006 at the Yokosuka Research Park in Yokosuka, Japan, with approximately 180 employees.

(As we stated on Tuesday this week: “expect a formal announcement in the coming days.” — Eds.)