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KDDI Hits 50 Million Full-Song Milestone

KDDI has reported hitting 50 million full-song downloads as of May 20 2006. The service launched in November 2004 and passed the 10 million mark 6 months later. There are an estimated 80 mobile music stores selling full-song downloads with a total of over 150 thousand titles to choose from. As of November 2005 there was approx. 5 million KDDI customers with full-song download capable handsets in Japan, currently there are about 35 compatible models, including the most recently announced 7 new phones.

Tokyo's amazing week: UK/Jpn JV, 'SoftBank Mobile' and MNP

Watching the business of wireless in Japan just keeps getting better!

Last week brought a slew of new announcements, including news of the JPY11 bn SoftBank/Vodafone joint venture, confirmation that the company formerly known as Vodafone KK will henceforth be known as ‘SoftBank Mobile’ and details on the long-awaited MNP (mobile number portability) implementation. Subscribers can access WWJ’s insight on the first two in today’s Viewpoint (here), but read on below for our take on MNP — possibly the biggest revolution in Japan mobile since i-mode itself.

First, a little history.

Until now, the Big Three cellular carriers (DoCoMo, KDDI/au and Vodafone), as well as the smaller PHS carriers (Willcom, Astel, etc.), have run their networks as independent — and highly competitive — fiefdoms. There has been nothing like number portability or, for that matter, portability of any other service/feature. If you switched carriers, you lost your number…

Softbank/Vodafone Tie-up & Is the Best-of-Breed 905SH Good Enough?

905SH: Will Best of Breed be Enough?

The historic SoftBank / Vodafone press conference, held 18 May at Tokyo’s swanky Conrad Hilton, generated a flood of information and even more questions. Not much seems certain after Softbank’s Masayoshi Son and Vodafone’s Arun Sarin dropped the announcement of a never-before-tried plan for UK carrier Vodafone PLC to cooperate with Japanese Internet services company Softbank in a 50-50 joint venture aimed at developing mobile phones, services and content (mostly for Japan). On one level, the move is a straightforward play to enable Vodafone to keep at least some connection to Japan’s cutting-edge market and extract expertise, content, devices and business models (everything the old Vodafone KK was supposed to do). But looking deeper, the devil is readily apparent in the details: Who pays for what? To whom does value flow? Will VF be willing to implement strategy and devices from Japan via Son that they weren’t via their own wholly owned subsidiary? And what’s in it for Softbank — What could they possibly need from The Rest of the World?

As the humidity settles in for another long, torrid Tokyo summer, a ‘wait-and-see’ response is the most generous recommendation WWJ can make; however we can point to one bright spot: the new flagship handset, the 905SH. Available on 27 May, the phone is probably the best piece of mobile gear available on the Tokyo street this season. But will it be enough to stem the inevitable tide of subscribers from the company formerly known as Vodafone to Softbank competitors? Probably not. (Subscribers log in for more commentary on the rebranding, the new VF-Softbank joint venture and other Japan mobile highlights.)

Au Blitz Unveils Seven New Handsets

KDDI has just held a press conference in the New Otani hotel to introduce another seven new handset models for the summer season just as the most recent batch announced earlier this year are now hitting the streets here in Japan. The new hardware on tap includes a Walkman branded model from Sony Ericsson and Casio’s follow-up to last years popular G’zOne water-proof ‘tough phone’ offering. They have also announced another Hitachi handset with the felica mobile wallet chip, a super-slim Kyocera coming in at 18mm thick with a 2.4inch ASV liquid crystal screen (and analog tv tuner), a new Toshiba ‘mass music’ model with bluetooth and 1GB memory on-board plus an additional digital TV tuner enabled unit (with PC site viewer) coming from Sanyo.

KDDI Adopts Google for Mobile Search

KDDI and Google held a joint press conference today to announce Google search will launch on KDDI/au’s EZ Web mobile platform starting in July. The new service will apparently also include contextual Adwords based on the input text and the companies have stated the tie-up will allow them to test, improve and add more services in the future. The announcement indicates this new tie-up is not aimed exclusively at mobile phones, but will also provide an extensive search service that targets content on fixed-line PCs as well.

Will it be SoftBank or J-Phone?

Since the news first broke that SoftBank was taking over Vodafone K.K., speculation has been rife in the media over the new name of the company. Several (including us) pointed out the logic that switching back to the former well-known and loved J-Phone brand would be a strong move to hit the ground running. However, local media reports over the last few days have carried leaked news stating that it may indeed be called ‘SoftBank Mobile.’ Better place your bets now because the official announcement is due to hit the wires in the next hour or so via a press conference at a downtown Tokyo hotel with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Vodafone’s Arun Sarin on hand.

(Update) It’s official: SoftBank Mobile wins! [.PDF]. The press conference live stream is here.