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hitachi

Hitachi Beats Samsung at KDDI – Comments

In a report on Unstrung, Justin Springham comments on the significance of this week’s KDDI contract awards to Korean and Japanese vendors (noted by WWJ here). Yesterday, Hitachi seemed to beat Samsung’s day-earlier deal with KDDI Corp., revealing that it had also secured a CDMA 1XEV-DO Revision-A network upgrade deal with the carrier worth approximately 100 billion yen. Springham writes that: “Hitachi’s win eclipses the earlier $800 million deal with Samsung. Reports suggested Samsung claimed to be the sole supplier of Revision A kit to KDDI.”

Hitachi Wins 3G Order from KDDI

Hitachi said it has won a contract worth over US $800 mn from KDDI Corp. for 3G wireless communications equipment. “We can’t give you specific figures, but the size of the contract exceeds the US$800 mn order KDDI awarded to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics yesterday,” said Hitachi spokeswoman Naoko Okada.

Chip Cuts Power Consumption 90%

Hitachi Ltd., a major electrical machinery manufacturer, and Renesas Technology Corp., a microcontroller producer equally owned by Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., have developed system-chip technology that can reduce the power consumption of cellular phones during standby time by 90%, the companies said Monday. The technology will enable mobile phone batteries to last 10 times longer with a single recharge, thereby extending their standby time to a maximum of about 30 days from the current two to three days, they said.

GPS Phones: Disaster Data Source

The combination of terrestrial digital broadcasting and mobile phone technology is what the developers want to be used for sending evacuation orders and alarm information to people during large-scale disasters. KDDI Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. are jointly developing a terminal equipped with GPS, while various levels of government are paying keen attention to that possibility. KDDI and NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. are in the final stage of development to lead the industry, services to mobile phone are scheduled to begin during fiscal 2005.

Business mopera Access Simple Launches in Japan

Today SEVEN announced it is powering NTT DoCoMo’s Business mopera Access Simple — a mobile groupware service that enables secure remote access to email, calendar, contacts, and documents via i-mode phones. Available today from NTT DoCoMo’s direct business sales force and NTT DoCoMo’s retail stores throughout Japan, Business mopera Access Simple is a tier-one i-mode service and is a core “i-mode for Business Solutions” offering. NEC and SEVEN partnered to develop Business mopera Access Simple; it is based on SEVEN’s “behind-the-firewall” Server Edition software.

Telephone Tunes: KDDI Launches Mobile Music Downloads

KDDI WIN Chaku-uta Full-compatible handsetsAs if Japanese phones weren’t mobese enough, KDDI is first out of the gate with music distribution for cell phones — allowing multi-slackers to download artists’ songs in their entirety right to the handset. Launching this month, users of EZ Chaku Uta Full (Chaku – download, uta – song, full – in its entirety, get it?) will have access to 10,000 songs from six web sites covering everything from pop princess Hilary Duff to indie artists. Playlist and music sites are set to expand over the coming year. The company also plans to enable downloads through their ‘NOW On Air’ FM radio subscription service, though a start date has not yet been set. Content fee per song should average around 315 yen and transmission speed will hit a maximum of 2.4 Mbps under KDDI’s ‘Double Flat’ fixed packet charge service.

JCB's MOPASS IC Credit Card

JCB, a leading international payment brand, has developed contactless credit for MOPASS cards [.jpg image] conforming to ISO/IEC14443 for Type B communications. The MOPASS card (MObile PASSport), created in cooperation with Hitachi Ltd., combines smart card microprocessor functions with the flash memory card format for use in PCs, mobile phones, PDAs and other information devices with a memory card slot. JCB demonstrated the card at the 9th JCB World Conference on October 18 and 19 in Kyoto, Japan.

SkyWave and LignUp Partnership Builds on Channel in Japan

SkyWave, Inc., Ltd., a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) pioneer and leading provider of VoIP services and solutions in Japan, and LignUp Corporation, a leading provider of SIP-based voice applications and software infrastructure for the enterprise, today announced that the companies will build on channel and customer successes in Japan by partnering to jointly develop and market SIP solutions that enhance enterprise communications while reducing long distance costs, reducing telecom operating costs, and eliminating redundant infrastructure costs.

Fuel-Cell Mobile Phones for Digital TV

KDDI has teamed up with Japanese mobile-phone manufacturers to develop a fuel-cell-powered phone equipped with functions for receiving terrestrial digital TV broadcasting. KDDI has signed joint development agreements with Toshiba and Hitachi. Although the two manufacturers will develop fuel-cell-equipped mobile phones separately on the basis of their own technology, they will use the same user interface that includes the fuel inlet.

Prototype Organic TFT Color LCD

The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Hitachi have jointly developed an organic thin-film transistor (TFT) color LCD prototype which uses organic TFTs as a driving switch. The 1.4-inch prototype has a resolution of 80×80 pixels, each of which measures 318×106 microns. The TFT is 50 microns in width and 5 microns in length. AIST expects that the organic TFT technologies will pave the way for the development of next-generation displays at lower costs.