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GPS

Vodafone Japan 3Q Results Released

Extract: Vodafone K.K.’s 3G devices increased by 564,600 in the quarter, bringing the number of 3G subscribers to 2,318,200, whilst market share of 3G net additions remained fairly constant throughout the quarter at just over 10%. Blended ARPU for the quarter was down 3.7% year on year, an improvement from the 5.4% fall recorded in the quarter to September. The continued fall in ARPU reflects the loss of higher value customers in the previous year and competitive pressures on pricing. Blended ARPU for the quarter was down 3.7% year on year, an improvement from the 5.4% fall recorded in the quarter to September. The continued fall in ARPU reflects the loss of higher value customers in the previous year and competitive pressures on pricing. The improved trend is due in part to the positive impact from the new range of flat-rate plans, which are generating additional usage. Service revenue fell 4.5% year on year due to the decline in ARPU. Voice revenues fell 6.2%, with non-voice revenues broadly stable. The improvement versus the previous quarter can be attributed to an improved ability to retain customers, resulting from a better handset line-up and service offering. (WWJ subscribers log in for more details).

Info Plant Mobile Users Survey

Online market researcher Info Plant has released the results of a survey on cell-phone functions and services. The company conducted a survey of 7,905 NTT DoCoMo i-mode users nationwide, 12-23 December 2005. When asked which functions and services they usually use that are available on their handsets, 85.4 percent of respondents answered “alarm,” followed by 83.3 percent for “camera (for still images)” and 81.6 percent for “ring tone.” When asked which functions and services they wish to have, the top favorite was “TV,” followed by “GPS navigation” and “pass/ticket for train and bus;” “key,” “ID card,” and “anti-crime buzzer,” were among the top 10 answers.

Sanyo and KDDI Introduce 3 New Sweet Handsets

Sanyo and KDDI Introduce 3 New Sweet HandsetsBuilding on the original teen-targeted Sweet handsets first introduced in January 2005, the companies have just announced three new models for release starting 1 February. One of the key features included in the first series was a GPS-aided application that included user location data in email sent from the phone (so that parents would know whether young Yukiko-chan was actually at juku (cram class) — or not). The second gen of these handsets goes a few steps further to include that function as well as the new Voice Input application and Hello Messenger, for starters. The latest CDMA 1X (3G) Sweet-series all have 1.3-megapixel cameras, are both BREW- and Flash-enabled and include a built-in security buzzer that boasts a screaming 98dB alarm in case of emergency.

Perhaps the most interesting new feature that was announced, and missed by most other mainstream media, was the new OCR feature. You use the phone’s camera to scan text, such as an email address, URL or phone number, which can then be easily added to the onboard address book; this is a very handy feature. There is also a new “Camera Dictionary” BREW application that will also scan — and translate — English text into Japanese kanji characters as well. Now that is Sweet!

Safety features for children is a growing market niche and this series should prove very popular with both youthful customers and their parents (subscribers log in for full feature descriptions from the press release).

GPS Phones for Emergency Guidance

Kyoto University and the research arm of telecom carrier KDDI Corp. conducted an experiment Friday to see how mobile phones equipped with global positioning systems can be used to provide evacuation guidance in the event of a disaster. About 30 students took part in the experiment, held in the vicinity of the university’s campus in Kyoto, bringing with them GPS-equipped phones designed to display the nearest evacuation center.

KDDI Launching New Voice App

KDDI and Okinawa cellular have announced what they claim to be the world’s first “Voice Input” function of a decentralized voice recognition feature. To be released in cooperation with the popular GPS service EZ Navi walk, the new offering will become available for their au customers as of early February 2006. Based on a server-side application, “voice recognition on large-scale can achieve high accuracy compared to past versions” (which ran processed commands on the handset) according to the company press release.

New Fujitsu-Siemens Smartphone

According to leaks around the web, Fujitsu-Siemens will unveil a high-end smartphone loaded with features at 3GSM in March. The T800 [ .jpg image ] will roll-out a QWERTY keyboard with a 240×240 display, rumored to be running Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition on a 416 MHz XScale processor. Also predicted 64 MB of RAM and 128 MB of Flash ROM for storage the new unit will supposedly offer Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0 as well.