DoCoMo
DoCoMo

DoCoMo

SoftBank Mobile Reports Modest MNP Success

Japan’s mobile carriers aren’t in turmoil — not so far, anyway. But Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has brought the nearest thing yet to a consumer-facing market meltdown, and the No. 1 Agent of Change is undoubtedly Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Mobile.

The media, industry analysts and Japan Wireless Watchers everywhere have been hit with two sets of numbers in the past fortnight: the initial, media-and-analysts-only post-MNP subscriber churn numbers released on 31 October (one week after MNP start) by NTT DoCoMo and KDDI (SoftBank Mobile was silent), followed by the regular monthly release of overall subscriber numbers issued on 8 November by the TCA Telecommunications Carriers Association; keep in mind that the TCA release is based on self-reporting from the carriers).

Wireless Watch Japan's Web Video Triple Play

Wireless Watch Japan’s Web Video Triple PlayIt’s been a fairly hectic six weeks for Japan’s mobile industry and therefore also for us here at WWJ. Starting with the Tokyo Game Show here in late September, followed in short order by CEATEC and DoCoMo’s new 903i-series launch — and combined with the MNP (mobile number portability) official launch on 24 October — it’s been crazy.

Your WWJ staff have also been deep into planning next week’s Mobile Intelligence Japan (MIJ) mission, due to start on Sunday afternoon and we have over 250 folks registered for our next Mobile Monday event at the Canadian embassy on Monday 13 November! Phew!

We know how much everyone enjoys watching our web video programs and so we’ve bundled a few together that were finally produced over the last little while. The Tokyo Game Show was, as always and then some, a super event this year, celebrating their 10th anniversary and was held at Makuhari Messe; WWJ saw previews of DoCoMo’s 903i “Mega Games” while KDDI was running a massive (mobile) multiplayer Bomberman exhibit and SoftBank Mobile stepped out if full force with a wide selection of games targeted at Sharp’s 905SH handset.

Also, we have added our video coverage from DoCoMo’s new 903i-series launch, which introduced a whopping 14 new handsets complete with some interesting 3G data service upgrades as well.

Finally, DoubleClick Japan introduced their “Mobile MK” software and were kind enough to show us a full demo. — Yoroshiku!

Aplix Reaches Agreement for Linux

Aplix has announced that it reached a licensing agreement with NEC Corp. and Panasonic Mobile Communications on MOAP to offer integrated solutions for Linux-based mobile phones. The license allows Aplix to design and develop software solutions for mobile phones using the MOAP Linux platform co-developed by NEC, Panasonic Mobile and NTT DoCoMo, and to sublicense this technology to other handset manufacturers.

KDDI Wins October Subscriber War

KDDI Corp. appears to have benefited the most from the mobile phone number portability service introduced Oct. 24 to allow people to switch phone companies without changing their numbers. KDDI said Wednesday that it had a net 200,500 new subscribers in October, market leader DoCoMo saw its subscribers increase by only 40,800 while Softbank Mobile said its subscribers increased by 23,800.

October MNP – Early Results

Japan mobile industry watchers are awaiting the official October stats from the Telecom Carriers Assoc. (TCA) to be posted this week. Considering the figures already announced by both DoCoMo and KDDI at the end of October it would seem that mobile number portability has – as predicted – provided KDDI the most benefit so far. However, after a quick calculation based on the information already available, SoftBank Mobile may well be in the news as a result of what would appear to be rather ‘disappointing’ numbers.

Napster Mobile Launches on i-mode

Napster has announced the launch of Napster Mobile on iMode. DoCoMo is now promoting Napster Mobile, with over-the-air full length songs and ringtones and the Napster To Go PC-to-handset sideloading capabilities through a multi-million dollar integrated marketing campaign comprised of TV, outdoor, print, in-box, online and on-deck promotion. The campaign also includes today’s platform-wide takeover of iMode by Napster. DoCoMo customers can use Napster Mobile to access full-length songs and ringtones that can be delivered over-the-air (OTA), directly to their mobile handset for immediate listening and downloading.