From Monday, Seoulites can enjoy W-CDMA services at a similar rate to the current 2G phones. In an effort to build awareness of 3G phones, the private and public sectors are taking part in various incentives. SK Telecom’s subscription fee is 50,000 won, and it will collect 20 won for 10-second voice calls in addition to 14,000 won in basic monthly charges. SK will offer video call services for free in March, but will charge a monthly fee to be fixed later.
Toshiba Corp and Fujitsu Ltd each have developed a new mobile phone with connectivity based on “Bluetooth,” a technology specification for short-range radio links, and received the Bluetooth logo certification needed for their sales of the phones. Their movement is believed to be directed at the Japanese market. There are not many Bluetooth-enabled cell phones in the Japanese market — Sony Corp launched the “C413S” in 2001 and Sharp Corp already offers a PDA terminal and a PHS terminal based on Bluetooth.
Signaling its seriousness to get its HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) network and concomitant mobile/smart phones up and transmitting in 2005, NTT DoCoMo said today that it is plowing 37 billion yen ($343.8 million) into 5 Japanese handset and network builders AND Motorola Japan Inc. What is immediately surprising about this move is that once again, as with yesterday’s media extravaganza on the new 900i phones, long-term handset partners Toshiba, and handset maker and major infrastructure builder Sony Ericsson are both missing. But it now looks like DoCoMo feels its time to start really kicking in the efficiencies to differentiate itself from KDDI’s WIN service both in terms of performance and, more critically, to faster recoup the considerable investment the company has made in 3G as it probably gears up for a packet price war with KDDI and Vodafone KK. And then, there is the leveraging of Motorola’s Linux links too!
Samsung is shipping a high-end smartphone powered by embedded Linux from Mizi Research that supports both Chinese and English. The device is being distributed in China, initially, where it works with #2 China wireless provider Unicom’s CDMA2000 1x network. The Samsung SCH-i519 offers an impressive range of high-end PDA and smartphone features, including sophisticated voice-control capabilities. It currently sells for about $750.
The news is out that KDDI has decided to adopt Sony’s FeliCa, thus removing a major barrier to the contact less IC card’s promulgation outside of DoCoMo in Japan– and also bringing the technology into a major cdma carrier. For us at WWJ, this is the biggest news of the month! Last week we talked to Shusaku Maruko, Senior Manager of Sony’s FeliCa Business Center and got the lowdown on what FeliCa will be. Please wait for that program, and before that, we will post the only FeliCA i-mode service video available for you, our loyal subscribers, around in the world on or around December 17. Sorry to hype this, but you just can’t get our action anywhere else in the world and, Goddam, we are so happy!
In a decision that could be a huge boost for mobile phones to become e-wallets, KDDI has decided to adopt Sony Corp’s technology in smart cards for use in third-generation mobile phones that it will develop with Hitachi Ltd. This is wonderful news for chances of the evolution of the mobile phone’s morph into one of the so-called ubiquitous devices that Sony’s Idei has been promising for longer than hack journalists can remember. The news is out that KDDI has decided to adopt Sony’s FeliCa, thus removing a major barrier to the contact less IC card’s promulgation outside of DoCoMo in Japan, and also bringing the technology into a major cdma carrier.
