NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today it will field test a controller that enables home appliances to be operated with 3G FOMA® handsets. The controller enables operations such as programming the recording of a TV program and then viewing the playback on the phone, turning air conditioners and lights on an off, and viewing live video from the controller’s built-in camera. WWJ’s video program from CEATEC in Oct. ’03 features a demo. of the technology.
Research house and consumer survey firm INFO PLANT recently held a seminar on the main themes and directions of Japan’s wireless market in 2004. INFO PLANT’s C-News editor-in-chief Tomoki Sakaino began with some interesting comparisons between the Korea and Japan markets before offering unique insights into the prospects for FOMA and FeliCa this year; he also reviewed studies into attitudes about DoCoMo’s new 900i-series 3G handsets and TV broadcast content for mobile devices. Full Program Run-time 19:28
It’s official: the switch to flat rate for packet communications by NTT DoCoMo starts on June 1 at 3,900 yen per month—300 yen cheaper than KDDI. Is this the start of a new era of price wars that rapidly commoditize 3G services—reminiscent of what happened on Japan’s ADSL market a few years ago? Not if DoCoMo president Keiji Tachikawa can help it. Our first observation today was how few subscribers the flat rate will apply to—only heavy users who are used to price plans starting at 6,700 yen. The second point was DoCoMo’s opinion that perhaps only a third of heavy users might take advantage of the flat rate option this year.
Here’s one for the books: Symbian OS proponent Fujitsu and Mitsubishi (which makes decent handsets for the domestic market but is unknown outside of Japan) have announced that they are getting together to develop new FOMA handsets. The press release today appears to be dressed up in terms of Fujitsu offering its expertise to Mitsubishi with Symbian, but it also hints that the two will combine on hardware development too. Given the fact that Fujitsu is a leading proponent of Symbian, and that DoCoMo president Keiji Tachikawa hinted that Symbian will be the OS of choice, the announcement looks as if Mitsubishi has figured the lay of the land and jumped on the bandwagon.
Here is the first of what we at WWJ think will be a rash of easy-to-use cell phone shopping applications using the FeliCa contactless IC chip solution. A few weeks ago we talked to Sony’s Shusaku Muruko, who told us that FeliCa Networks seeks to build a platform for a whole series of apps, and now here is NEC with its LightHolder i-appli technology to smooth the path into mobile online shopping, coupons and discounts, reservations and we hope, beer!
Full Program Run-time 11:30
NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that the SH900i, the fourth handset in the new 3G FOMA 900i series, will be released on March 20, 2004.The SH900i, like other 900i models, is equipped with a Macromedia Flash browser to enjoy rich content enhanced with highly fluid animation. It handles Flash applications of up to 100K and is equipped for richer, more sophisticated online games than ever before.
