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Mogi = Socially Connected GPS Gaming

Mogi: Socially Connected GPS GamingYou may have read about it in Wired or The Feature, but our program today is the first Web video coverage for Mogi, a GPS game that may be The Future of Mobile Content, Version 1.0. Mogi is a multi-player network game in which individuals or teams hunt down virtual treasures hidden in Tokyo’s concrete jungle. Mogi players interact in ways that the much-talked-about i-mode has yet to deliver. It’s new for Japan, even newer for the rest of the world, and there’s no lucrative revenue model. Yet.

QUALCOMM Announces Extensive Adoption of its Integrated QTV Solutions

QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced strong customer demand for its single chip, fully integrated Qtv(TM), Qcamcorder(TM) and Qvideophone(TM) multimedia solutions. These enhanced video solutions are part of QUALCOMM’s suite of Launchpad(TM) technologies integrated into QUALCOMM’s chipset solutions; Qtv is a real-time decoder that enables the streaming and downloading of video content, Qcamcorder is a real-time encoder that records video, and Qvideophone is a two-way, video telephony solution that enables mobile videoconferencing. QUALCOMM’s mobile video solutions have been chosen as the multimedia implementation for more than 30 different handset designs from seven wireless device manufacturers, representing global markets including Europe, Japan, South Korea and North America.

DoCoMo's New CEO Meets the Press

DoCoMo's New CEO Meets the PressOn Monday, 21 June, NTT DoCoMo’s newly minted President & CEO Masao Nakamura held his first press conference in Tokyo. Previously, Nakamura was an official of NTT Corp. in charge of personnel management. He was appointed as a managing director of NTT DoCoMo in 1998, and became the company’s senior executive vice president in 2002. He also held other prominent positions, such as executive manager of the Accounts and Finance Department, senior executive manager of the Mobile Multimedia Division and managing director of the Marketing Division. WWJ subscribers can view the entire 30-minute Q&A session and please note — in the spirit of these changing times — we have upgraded our video codecs in the hope of delivering an even better product to WWJ subscribers. Wow, all the recent mobile kaizen must be contagious! Full Program Run-time 34:16, also available in Real Player and Quick-Time formats.

Vodafone's ex-CEO: The Pre-Postmortem

The news out of Vodafone today is that Darryl E. Green, CEO of both Vodafone KK and Vodafone Holdings KK, has resigned for personal reasons. An interim CEO has been appointed while the companies search for a permanent replacement. Green’s departure is not unrelated, we suspect, to Vodafone’s recent grim Japanese financial results. While it’s too early for a full postmortem, it might help bring perspective to the situation to point out a number of successes that Vodafone achieved on Green’s watch.

NTT DoCoMo's Nakamura: New and Luke Warm!

In a series of subtle and not so subtle remarks that made it clear all is not well at NTT DoCoMo, new president and CEO Masao Nakamura vowed to recover the company’s tarnished record of delivering huge profits. He also said the company would plunge into Asia for global revenue expansion, just like ex-CEO Keiji Tachikawa vowed to do in 2001. Beyond that, Nakamura promised that DoCoMo would put the customer first — but then said he’d put the shareholder first; later, apparently contradicting the propaganda put out by i-mode boss Takeshi Natsuno last week, he said he wasn’t sure how big the market for FeliCa was going to be. But there was plenty of new news broached by Nakamura and he’s set some hard targets in his (somewhat foggy) sights.

Carlyle Group & Kyocera Buy DDI

U.S. buyout specialist Carlyle Group and Kyocera Corp. are right now announcing details of their purchase of keitai mini and Personal Handy Phone (PHS) operator DDI Pocket from KDDI. Carlyle and Kyocera are expected to snap up a 90 percent stake in DDI Pocket in the $2.1 billion deal. The purchase is sure to give Kyocera, a major PHS phone and base-station maker, a platform to hit the booming China market and gives KDDI a chance to offload the strugging DDI unit (now down to its last 3 million subs) as au concentrates on improving its CDMA 1X EV-DO WIN service against a resurgent DoCoMo. Under the deal announced yesterday, Carlyle will own 60%, Kyocera 10% and KDDI will keep the remaining 10%.