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KDDI Posts Strong Quarterly Results

Japanese telco KDDI has reported net income of JPY75.7 billion (USD652.2 million) for the three months to the end of June, up 44% compared with the corresponding period last year. The mobile division continues to comfortably outperform the fixed line business, with net income from wireless services up 35% to JPY77.8 billion compared with a net loss from the wireline division of JPY4.1 billion. Overall sales were up 12% to JPY798.4 billion. For the full year to March 2007 KDDI expects sales to come in at JPY735 billion (up 19% year-on-year) and net income to drop 2.4% to JPY186 billion.

GeoVector to Demo. 3D Search

GeoVector has announced the release of a new 3D search technology which will allow users to obtain information by selecting objects on a map displayed in 3D on the screen of their mobile phone. This 3D map, generated via GPS technology and a built-in compass, is said to create an intuitive means for the user to interact with the world around them. GeoVector’s 3D Search Technology will be presented at the NEC booth at Wireless Japan 2006, to be held July 19-21 in Tokyo.

Guppy Games Signs with Kotobuki

Guppy Games has selected Kotobuki Solution Co., Ltd. (KEMCO Japan) as their distribution partner for releasing mobile game contents in Japan. The first title for distribution will be Jump Girls with an expected launch by fall 2006. Jump Girls is a strategy puzzle game jointly developed by ZIO Interactive which has been very popular on South Korean carriers. KEMCO Japan will be the distribution partner for launching Jump Girls with the four major Japanese carriers: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Vodafone, and Willcom.

Firms to Get Help in Wireless Market

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry plans to draw up a new set of rules this fall to allow companies that do not own their own wireless infrastructure to more easily enter the mobile communications business, ministry officials said Thursday. The new rules are aimed at helping companies that lack their own networks to become “virtual mobile network operators” by using the networks of established mobile phone operators, including NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp. and Vodafone K.K., the officials said.

DoCoMo's Blackberry: Q&A with Research in Motion Japan

DoCoMo's Blackberry: Q&A with Research in Motion JapanThe pending Japan arrival of Research in Motion (RIM)’s hyperpopular BlackBerry email device, widely known as the ‘CrackBerry’ for its simple, efficient and addictive delivery of corporate email, will inject a new dimension into this country’s complex device and service matrix.
A wise move or a sign of desperation? These two viewpoints seem to characterize media, pundits’ and bloggers’ responses to last month’s announcement that DoCoMo would bring the BlackBerry email device into Japan, in partnership with RIM, based in Canada. Our own take on it was: Who Cares? WWJ was mindful that “virtually everyone in Japan’s workforce already has an always-on, fully connected email device right in their back pocket — in other words, a phone!”

Furthermore, before and since then, there has been more news, helping make it even more difficult to assess the BlackBerry’s prospects.

According to the pundits, NTT DoCoMo’s decision to import the BlackBerry is either (a) a master stroke aimed at securing the giant carrier’s corporate mobile offerings as 3G competition heats up in 2006/07, or (b) expensive folly that will see enterprise sales teams saddled with a clunky, ‘not-made-here’ device that competes poorly if at all against universal 3G phones that already receive push mail in real time, thank you very much (and some media reports have stated the first Japan BlackBerrys won’t even accept Japanese text input). The truth, however, is probably somewhere between these extremes, and so WWJ went straight to the source.

Motorola and RIM Rolling in – SoftBank a No-Show?

Last week saw an interesting double play for mobile devices in Japan as both NTT DoCoMo and Willcom announced new phones — DoCoMo’s 7-Series — or new PDAs — Sharp’s oddly named W-Zero3[es]. These, combined with the continuing speculation on the this fall’s entry of RIM’s Blackberry email device (will it have Japanese text input capability?), made it a busy week for wireless watchers.

On Tuesday, WWJ was first on the Web with a full report and images of DoCoMo’s new 7-Series, a mix of models from Sharp, Panasonic, NEC and Mitsubishi, as well as from US maker Motorola…