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MTV Japan Launches Exclusive Mobile Music Channel

MTV Japan Launches Exclusive Mobile Music Channel

Executives from MTV Networks were in Tokyo to launch their new Japan-exclusive mobile and online entertainment channel, Flux. The service will initially be available exclusively on KDDI through au EZWeb. Subscription fees are set at 315 yen per month. Scheduled to begin broadcasting on June 30th, Flux targets 13-34 year-olds with original Japanese video and animation productions and programming from the global MTV Networks library. Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants will splash down onto Flux as well – his first adventures in Japan outside Nick network here. Nickelodeon and MTV are part of the Viacom Inc. broadcasting empire.

Two locally produced animations already signed on are Lightman, described in a press release as “a superhero who battles against the forces of evil,” (no, you’re kidding? Against evil?) and “Hanamoski”, a series of clips “starring an elephant with a very long trunk”. That’s nice. Clips will be broadcast on mobile in 1-3 minute episodes, see the press release for more programming details.

KDDI Awards Expansion of Nationwide Network Build in Japan to Corrigent

Corrigent Systems, a leading provider of Packet ADM (Add Drop Multiplexer) for next-generation transport networks, today announced that its CM-100 Packet ADM was selected by KDDI for the second phase deployment of its nationwide buildout of packet-based metro transport network in Japan. KDDI will use the 10Gbps Corrigent Packet ADM for its second phase build that consists of expanding its service areas further. The first phase deployment, announced last year and consists of over 1,000 units of the CM-100 packet ADM, is carrying commercial traffic. KDDI’s packet-based metro networks are built to support new services such as Metal-Plus for IP-based telephony and Hikari-Plus, a complete voice, video and data triple-play offering, as well as KDDI’s 3G cellular telephony services.

Sanyo to Supply DoCoMo 3G Phones

Sanyo Electric Co., seeking to recover from a record loss last year, said it will resume supplying handsets to NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s biggest mobile phone operator, for the first time since 1999. Sanyo will provide a handset for high-speed, or third- generation, service to Tokyo-based DoCoMo this year, said company spokesman Akihiko Oiwa, confirming a Nihon Keizai newspaper report. The Osaka-based company expects to ship 1 million of the handsets annually, and supply two other models starting next year.

KDDI Launching Star Wars Mobile Content for 3G Phones

KDDI Launching Star Wars Mobile Content for 3G Phones

The Force is with KDDI young WWJ Padowans. Japan may be one of the last countries on the planet to see the Revenge of the Sith film, not premiering here until July 9th, but KDDI has contracted where no other Japanese telecom has contracted before (I know, I know, it’s a Star Trek reference but cut me some slack), at least for 3G cell phones.

Starting June 9th, exclusive Star Wars content will be available to subscribers of KDDI’s EZChannel, EZBook and EZ Movie portals for au 3G CDMA 1X WIN cell phones. All six of the Star Wars films stories will be readable with EZBooks; over EZChannel, a talk-through guide on how to better understand this latest edition to the series; while EZMovie will run trailers as a quick fix for those fans who continue to be deprived of actually seeing the film. Star Wars music and Star Wars books will be available for real-world purchase on cell phones from auRecords and auBooks. More fun features include a downloadable Flash screen where Anakin becomes one with the user’s cell phone battery. His light saber flashes from blue to red as your battery power levels sink into the danger zone.

Softbank Gets Test Service License

Though Softbank seems to be making more headlines with their pro baseball team, the Hawks, than Internet and broadband ventures, the company is moving decidedly forward in its long-range plan to provide mobile W-CDMA phone service in the domestic market. On 30 May, the company received its hard-fought for license to test service in the 1.7-gigahertz band. This is not yet a license for full operation as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is still working on allocation policy for this and one other bandwidth.

KDDI's Shock and Awe with Tough New Casio 3G Handsets

KDDI's Shock and Awe with Tough New Casio 3G HandsetsCasio’s rugged water-and-shock resistant mobile handsets from KDDI launched at a press event held in the celco’s shiny Harajuku Designing Studio first-floor theater; both features are firsts for a 3G handset and the G’zOne [flash site here] certainly looks like it should be hanging from a REI backpack while its user hammers pylons into a sheer rock face. An optional handle-cum-customized protector curves around the handset’s top edge, just begging for a carabiner clip. The phone has two screens, a 2.2-inch QVGA on the inside and 1-inch circular screen centered in the front cover.

All three models, the C303C, C311CA and C409CA, are covered in a tough polyurethane material with a magnesium alloy body to absorb hard knocks. G’zOne’s front screen functions as an electronic compass orienting with the built-in GPS tracking system and linked to KDDI’s signature EZ Navi walk navigation system, all ready for urban trailblazing. Even if your most arduous climb is the subway steps at Harajuku’s Omote Sando station, that water-resistant function could come in very handy when typhoon season hits. KDDI says the handset can withstand 30 minutes in water at a depth of one meter (although they admit tap water was used in the testing rather than chilly spring snow run-off). Thankfully the launch day event was held inside… 🙂