NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries announced today that the companies will launch an on-line payments service, named “DoCommerce,” at 9:00 a.m. on May 26, 2003, enabling both 2G and 3G SSL-compatible i-mode handset users to enjoy mobile shopping and pay online with their VISA, or JCB credit cards.
KDDI Corp. and Okinawa Cellular recently announced plans to launch five new handsets from the end of May increasing their new lineup of 3G mobile phones (CDMA 2000 1x), a format that enables high-speed data transmission of up to 144 kbps. All the new phones are Movie Mail-compatible, a function that allows users to shoot and send seamless movies. The new handsets scheduled for launch are the A5401CA manufactured by Casio, the A5402S produced by Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, the A5306ST and A1303SA both made by Sanyo, and the A5303H II manufactured by Hitachi.
Go ahead and feel free to mail me with your notes on which US/Canadian companies, technologies, business models, and content services bear watching. Can m-mode delivered via GSM/GPRS by AT&T Wireless sweep the US? Or does the backwards compatibility and high speed of CDMA 1x technology have an overwhelming advantage – making the CDMA carriers the ultimate market winners? Republishing your collected, collective wisdom on the European and North American mobile Net markets in the final two WWJ newsletters strikes me as being the best way I can pay back your loyal readership and spread around some of the local-market knowledge that WWJ subscribers have amassed.
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight subsidiaries announced today that they will launch V-Live(TM) service for videophones beginning May 1, 2003. M-Stage V-Live is a one-to-many video streaming service that enables users to download or stream a variety of live and archived content via 64 Kbps circuit-switched wireless transmission. The new offering will be available for P2101V, P2102V, D2101V, SH2101V, and T2101V FOMA handsets.
Sharp Corporation has signed an agreement with Datang Telecom Technology Co., Ltd., a major Chinese manufacturer of communications equipment, to supply camera-equipped GSM mobile phones to the Chinese market. Sharp has been manufacturing and selling audio-visual products, home appliances, office equipment and electronic components in China, but this is the company’s first entry into the Chinese mobile phone market.
More than one million users signed up for 3G mobile phone services in March in Japan, helped largely by surging 3G subscribers from KDDI, according to Japanﾕs Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA). KDDI, Japanﾕs second-largest mobile phone service provider, added about 914,100 3G subscribers.
