Vodafone Rolls out Sharp Ferrari-Branded Handsets
All doubts are now removed about who is making “Ferrari Class” handsets and the gloves are off for a bare-knuckles contest in the UK mobile data market. With O2 getting ready to roll out their i-mode portal in the next few months, Vodafone is clearly taking advantage of its relationship with Japanese OEMs and the London young turks need for speed. The GX25 (photo right) has Bluetooth and a QVGA TFT LCD bundled into its tri-band body, and the 3G-enabled 902sh touts a 2-megapixel camera with Video Out function.
Their ad copy says it all: “Jump into the seat with the Sharp 902 official Ferrari merchandise. You too can be part of the team through games, ring tones and customised menu which are all included in this unique package. Enjoy the benefits of this high-quality phone and share the excitement of the Ferrari footage with your friends. This striking Vodafone live! with 3G phone also features a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus and 2x optical zoom. After you have amazed others with your photography skills, why not explore the world of Vodafone live! with 3G to catch the latest music videos, Barclays Premiership goals, film trailers and breaking video news bulletins? All this before you have made your first face-to-face video call!“
DoCoMo’s hybrid 3G-PDA M1000 handset is off the showroom floor and finally on the street. WWJ was at the launch event and we’ve put together a quick video program showing just what sort of hoops this smartphone jumps through. Previewed at an April 15 press conference, the tri-band business-use handset from Motorola juggles W-CDMA, GSM and GPRS for global roaming, opens Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs as well as PDF files, and allows multiple email functions including POP and IMAP email. Internet access channels through the Opera 7.5 browser. DoCoMo took the (daring) step of dropping i-mode capability for the M1000 in favor of global compatibility. More PDA than phone, all navigation is through the bright, 2.9-inch touch screen. 
NTT DoCoMo, and Korea’s LG Electronics 
Index Corp., a Japanese company specializing in creating content for mobile phones, is rounding up TV contracts aimed at specialized interactive services linking mobile handsets and television programming. A story in the Nihon Keizai business daily reported the company was on the verge of issuing around 20 billion yen in shares to four other broadcasters including Nippon Television Network, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Fuji Television Network and TV Tokyo. When asked by WWJ, Index would say only that parties concerned were in negotiations and nothing could be confirmed yet. The news, confirmed or not, drove Index shares up 9.5 percent on the JASDAQ on 25 May. Both TV Asahi and Fuji Television already own around 1-2 percent of shares in Index.