Strapya has an extensive collection of charms to attach to your ketai including one called Revolve Game which has pinball, space hockey and car racing (to name a few) all packed into a 55mm x 40mm micro package. The unit runs on two LR44 batteries and has an auto power-off function that shuts down when idle for 3 or 4 minutes. It comes in 10 colors and has 99 levels of play – on the black & white screen – for only 680jpy.
It was the best of times, it was… well, it really was the best of times! Also, as the famous line from Dickens goes, it was the age of wisdom, the age of foolishness and the season of.. Mobile!
Looking back on 2006, it’s hard to decide which news from Japan’s mobile scene was the most spectacular. Vodafone pulled out, Softbank stood up, mobile number portability struck, a record number of new handsets hit the street and – as December winds down – Motorola and Samsung are shipping first foreign-made 3G units into Japan.
A ‘quick’ look at what caught WWJ’s attention in ’06 after the jump.
Panasonic announced that it has developed a new system LSI for mobile phones by applying its second-generation Integrated Platform for Digital Appliances. The new LSI MN2CS0035 model can greatly improve the playing time of SD audio and the graphic processing performance on mobile handsets. The use of LSI technology enables the existence of multiple functioning on a single chip in cellular phones such as long time music and movie playback, high-performance 3D graphics, and mobile DTV (ISDB-T) viewing. The company will commence shipping product samples in December 2006.
It’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!
Gemini Mobile Technologies has announced a new software platform to power mobile communities. The Gemini platform, called eXplo, is the foundation of a new 3D interface from SoftBank Mobile Corporation in Japan, named S! TOWN. SoftBank Mobile’s new S! Town-enabled phones are available today throughout Japan on selected Sharp and Toshiba phone models. Gemini expects to announce new carriers and content providers for eXplo in the coming months.
Excite Japan has signed a deal with Media Lead to distribute mobile content throughout the Asia Pacific region, “The initial plan is for Media Lead to supply mobile games and content for distribution by Excite Japan throughout Asia, and for Excite Japan to supply Japanese originated content to Media Lead distribution to the North and South American, and European markets”. In North America the content will be distributed by LA-based Smart SMS corporation.
Amp’d Mobile, announced it will deliver much of its mobile entertainment content to Japan via a new portal service designed exclusively for Tokyo-based KDDI/au. The service is expected to launch in March of 2007. Services will include Amp’d Music, Videos, Games, Sports, and Lifestyle content. The company has stated it will also open a satellite studio office in Japan that will contribute locally-produced materials to enhance their service.
NTT DoCoMo has announced new terminal specifications, developed jointly with Intel Corporation, that will enable mobile phones to be customized with additional desired operating system or application. The specifications provide an open domain, which is separate from the phone’s default domain containing the preinstalled operating system and applications. A controller enables switching between the domains. The open domain will enable a company, for example, to install an original browser and scheduler, and set an internal security policy for the terminal while individuals will be able to install their own personalized game software.
CELL Co. Ltd, the leading developer of mobile content in Japan, announced today that it has signed a distribution deal with Shockwave.com to bring CELL’s most popular mobile games to the US market. Shockwave.com will distribute CELL’s games through its live Shockwave Minis offering available to Verizon Wireless customers on select Get It Now-enabled phones. This is the first time CELL games will be available to US customers.
Aplix Corp. announced its JBlend Java platform has been deployed in Sony Ericsson’s K610im 3G handset. The incorporation of Aplix’s JBlend technology enables a variety of compelling content and Java experience for K610im users to enjoy, including games and multimedia applications. JBlend platform will also be deployed in Sony Ericsson’s other models that are under development.
