Two mobile phone models sold by KDDI Corp. automatically switch off after sending or receiving certain e-mail characters, the major phone carrier said Monday. The phones are the W42CA model made by Casio Computer Co. and the W42H model made by Hitachi Ltd., which were sold between late June and July. The basic software was developed jointly by Casio and Hitachi.
Pantech Group, South Korea’s No. 2 mobile phone maker, has signed an agreement to ship it’s second 3G model to KDDI in a deal pegged at $110 million. The A1406PT handset will be available in September targeting middle-aged and elderly Japanese consumers, Pantech said in a statement. The agreement comes six months after Pantech offered its A1405PT model, the first shipment to Japan by a Korean cellphone maker.
The WiMAX Forum, a non-profit organization comprised of almost 400 companies committed to the open interoperability of products delivering broadband wireless services, today named Dr. Hideo Okinaka of KDDI Corporation to its Board of Directors. As a strong contributor to the WiMAX Forum, KDDI’s addition to the board of directors is indicative of the overwhelming support from operators and wireless market leaders around the globe that WiMAX is the next evolution for delivering personal broadband services.
Consolidated financial results for NTT DoCoMo and its subsidiaries for the three months ending June 30, 2006. Operating Revenues were 1,218.6 bn JPY (up 2.7% YonY), operating income was 272.7 bn JPY (down 5.2% YonY), income before taxes was 274.4 bn JPY (down 22.4% Y on Y) and net income was 163.5 bn JPY (down 21.3% Y on Y). The significant dip in year-on-year returns is attributed to the company’s sale of Hutchinson 3G assets in the compared period of 2005. The analyst meeting live video cast will begin here shortly (WWJ subscribers log in to access mp3 audio of Q&A session with media, in English).
The good folks over at CIAJ (Communications and Information Network of Japan) issued a press item last week to announce results of their annual study on cellular phone use. According to CIAJ, “The study aims to capture on-going changes in the domestic mobile communications market and has been conducted since 1998.”
The study includes some interesting results related to actual usage of mobile Internet services, including email, music, GPS, mobile TV, e-wallets, number portability and more. The organization says they mailed questionnaires to 600 cellular phone users (male: 303, female: 297; by age group, under 20: 102, twenties: 101, thirties: 108, forties: 95, fifties: 95, sixties and above: 99) residing in the larger Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas from the end of March through April, 2006…
The next several months could be very bumpy for Japan’s Big 3 cellular service providers. First, KDDI Corp. just reported record Q1 earnings but failed to see a further rise in its share price since it also warned of uncertainty in the 3rd and 4th quarters, which is when number portability becomes available. Strong earnings were priced in given recent strength in retaining subscribers. KDDI understandably left its full year forecast in place projecting a lower y-o-y net profit on higher revenue. However, that does allow it to raise its forecast this autumn if number portability is not as severe as anticipated. Its shares lost 2.15% on the day.
