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ACG Gets Kyocera KX5 Slider

The Associated Carrier Group (ACG) and Kyocera Wireless announced the debut of the Kyocera Slider Remix KX5 wireless phone. The feature-rich, music-enabled handset is exclusively offered for a limited time by the recently united ACG, and is also the first phone offered by the alliance. “By forming the ACG alliance, our members collaborate with manufacturers – like Kyocera – to provide cutting-edge products, quicken market entry and to leverage costs,” said Greg Latour, president of ACG. “It’s proving to be a smart and successful alliance for our member companies, which ultimately benefits our customers. We are pleased to be the first in the U.S. to offer the Slider Remix.”

Square Enix to Acquire Taito

In the latest move amid industrywide reorganization, Square Enix Co., the maker of the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy video games, announced Monday it will acquire smaller rival Taito Corp. for 67 billion yen. Kyocera Corp., Taito’s parent with a 36 percent stake, said it has already agreed to Square Enix’s bid. Taito, which operates 270 arcades nationwide, is known as the creator of Space Invaders, the arcade video game that became a phenomenon in the early 1980s. Square Enix was born from a merger of the two major role playing game makers two years ago. The combined sales of Taito and Square Enix stood at 158.42 billion yen for the year ended in March.

Japan Mobile Market Myths from Past and Present

Japan Mobile Market Myths from Past and PresentThe recent guest article, Mobile Music Best Practices from Japan and Korea, has resulted in some interesting comments on the web. It seems that the long- wrong-held belief about Japan’s mobile success story is still being attributed to the “There are relatively few people in Japan with a home-based Internet connection, making the mobile Internet more attractive” syndrome. However, it’s clear according to the ITU that Japan’s Internet and PC adoption rates have been much the same as, or even better than, the adoption rates in European countries such as France, Germany and the UK since at least 2001. Another comment we saw regarding the Chaku-uta Full song downloads explained in the article said “it seems to me it may be being marketed (and more importantly used) more as a next-generation ring-tone service than as a true music service”.

This is incorrect. Today in Japan, marketing to encourage customers to upgrade and listen to full-track music on their new mobile devices is everywhere; in print, outdoor and on television commercials, we are seeing massive “i-pod-meets-mobile-phone” promotions. Hence the stereo headphones and J-pop artists making regular appearances to help push the product. Sure, people can use full songs as ring-tones as well (that’s a bonus), but that is not how Chaku-uta Full is be marketed or — more importantly — being used. (And you don’t have to take our word for it. Visit KDDI’s Ad Index site and surf around to watch their current selection of TV commercials.)

Kyocera Plans New LCD Factory

Kyocera Corp. is planning to implement a capital investment program worth 100 billion yen [about USD$1 billion] in fiscal 2005, an increase of 60 percent from fiscal 2004, according to Kyocera President Makoto Kawamura. “We are pushing a plan to build a factory for liquid crystal-related products in Kagoshima Prefecture” and other parts-making facilities elsewhere, Kawamura said in an interview.

Amp'd Announces Kyocera Handset

Amp’d Mobile and Kyocera Wireless Corp. today announced the Jet, an affordable high-speed EV-DO handset for rapid downloading of Amp’d’s unique 3G content launching later this year. Jet marks the first EV-DO mobile phone for Kyocera Wireless, a leading global manufacturer of CDMA wireless phones and devices, and will be the lowest-priced handset at Amp’d Mobile, the first fully integrated 3G mobile entertainment company for youth/young adults.

Livedoor to Apply for Mobile Licence

Internet firm Livedoor Co. said today it plans to apply for a new mobile licence that the Japanese government is expected to issue later this year, with the aim of starting a data service. Livedoor will apply for the licence on the 2 gigahertz band, a company spokesman said. It will be competing against mobile broadband startup IP Mobile Inc. and Willcom Inc., a wireless service operator owned by Kyocera Corp. and U.S. fund Carlyle Group.