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Japan Mobile Telco's Q4 Forcast

NTT DoCoMo and KDDI Corp. may say Q4 operating profit fell as they paid retailers more to lure shoppers and promote new handsets. DoCoMo’s operating profit probably dropped 83 percent to 44.4 billion yen ($420 million) in the three months ended March 31, according to the median targets of nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The company’s biggest rival in Japan, KDDI, may say operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, fell 6.8 percent to 53.5 billion yen.

Massive Mobile Multi-Player Game Rollout Announced

Massive Mobile Multi-Player Game Rollout AnnouncedDoCoMo ruled 2004 with their 900i-series 3G phones and exclusive Final Fantasy VII spin off game ‘Before Crisis’ but spring 2005 belongs to KDDI. Japan’s leading 3G carrier has just whipped out a whole new posse of BREW-based mobile multiplayer games for their WIN CDMA 1X 3G handsets: Bandai’s Gundam (Kidousenshi Gundam 3D Meguri Ai Sora Hen); Bomberman 2 from Hudson; Armored Core; Ace Combat by Namco; Sega Rally; Street Fighter II and more. In February, KDDI launched EZ Game Street a new gaming platform powered by Square Enix; the user-friendly image-based interface and landscape of 350 games is set to become even more engaging with this boulevard of multiplayer options powered by new, fixed data rates.

Family Flat Rate Voice Plan

Vodafone K.K announced today the company plans a staggered roll out of three new flat rate services: “Mail Flat-rate,” “Dual Packet Flat-rate” and “Family Call Flat-rate.” According to the company, these plans target all users from hard-core email addicts to fast-dialing families. Starting 1 October, the Family Call Flat-rate will make it possible for family members to call each other as often as they like with an additional flat-rate option that has a total fixed monthly charge of 315 yen. Matthew Nicholson, Vodafone Japan International Media Relations Manager, commented to WWJ: “This is the first time for such a comprehensive family call flat rate to be available in Japan.”

KDDI Launches Mobile EZ-Book Portal

KDDI Launches au Mobile Ez-Book PortalOnline bookstores are nothing new but KDDI has wrapped up a mobile reading solution that transforms cell phones into personal book-mobiles. Starting 21 April, EZ Book Land for au WIN EV-DO cell phones brings bestsellers, business titles, movie novelizations, manga (comics) and anime right onto handsets — 7,000 titles from ten sites. Like the EZ Channel video program service, books auto-download to subscribers late at night (when network demand is low) to be read at leisure with no connection fees to worry about. Viewer software is provided by the XMDF e-book viewer developed by Sharp for regular titles and Celsys Comic Surfing software for manga/anime. EZ Book Land partner Maruzen’s bookstore chain anchors the portal in the real world for book orders of the three-dimensional kind via au Books.

Japan 3G Cell Phone Shipments Surge

Japan 3G Cell Phone Shipments Surge3G handsets are driving new phone sales as consumers toss older 2G models for the promise of more music, fun and games. The Nihon Keizai Business Daily reported statistics from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Association (JEITA) showing February shipments of cell phones jumped 23 percent over the same month last year to total 4.7 million units – the second consecutive month of increases.

Consumers were initially slow to replace 2G handsets but resistance was futile. A barrage of slick ads and enticing features combined with the general mobile mass hysteria for entertainment-on-the-go have Japanese running to electronics retailers and cell-phone boutiques. Subscribers to DoCoMo’s 3G FOMA service have currently reached about 11.5 million and KDDI boasts nearly 18 million. Both cellcos have a seemingly endless lineup of new phones for every sort of consumer.