LG
LG

LG

Korea Plans $2.8B 3G Investment

In a bid to maintain leadership in the world next-generation mobile phone market, the big 3 mobile handset makers in Korea, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Pantech affiliates, plan to invest more than 3 trillion won (approx. 2.88 billion dollars) combined in development of cutting-edge communication technologies next year. These companies will concentrate on the advanced development of 3G handsets, digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) phones, software applications and user interfaces, industry sources said.

Business mopera Access Simple Launches in Japan

Today SEVEN announced it is powering NTT DoCoMo’s Business mopera Access Simple — a mobile groupware service that enables secure remote access to email, calendar, contacts, and documents via i-mode phones. Available today from NTT DoCoMo’s direct business sales force and NTT DoCoMo’s retail stores throughout Japan, Business mopera Access Simple is a tier-one i-mode service and is a core “i-mode for Business Solutions” offering. NEC and SEVEN partnered to develop Business mopera Access Simple; it is based on SEVEN’s “behind-the-firewall” Server Edition software.

mmO2 AND NTT DoCoMo ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT ON i-mode

mmO2 plc, a leading European mobile operator, and NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan’s largest mobile communications provider, today signed a long-term strategic agreement under which O2 will launch the i-mode mobile internet service in the UK, Germany and Ireland. This partnership will complement O2’s existing expertise in data services with DoCoMo’s experience in non-sms data and its extensive research and development capabilities. Customers will benefit from easy to use services, rich content applications and messaging across a range of advanced handsets.

i-mode Takes Flash Lite Global

Macromedia and NTT DoCoMo, Inc. just announced that members of the DoCoMo-led global alliance of i-mode® licensing companies will be offered Macromedia Flash Lite. “NTT DoCoMo demonstrated their vision and leadership by adopting Flash Lite more than a year ago,” said Juha Christensen, president of mobile and devices for Macromedia. “Based on their success with the technology, they’ve chosen to expand its use throughout their partner community. As a result, Flash Lite will reach a greater audience much more quickly than could have been done without their support.”

Index to Acquire 123 Multimedia

Index has announced that it has reached an agreement with 123 Multimedia of France to acquire 66.65% of 123MM’s outstanding shares. As Europe’s largest mobile content provider, 123MM provides various mobile Internet services based on i-mode, WAP, and Java, as well as mobile content using premium SSM, MMS, and SMS services. The French company’s content delivery network covers France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Morocco, the Netherlands, and Thailand.

Casio Develops the World's First Transparent Ceramic Lens

In conjunction with its parent company, Casio Computer Co., today announced that using its proprietary optical technology, it has developed the world’s first lens using transparent ceramics. This breakthrough will make it possible to create zoom lenses for cameras with greatly reduced profiles. Ever since CASIO’s EXILIM thin card-size digital camera went on sale, the entire digital camera market has undergone a huge change. Compact digital cameras offering mobility in a small package have become mainstream, while there has been a major push in technological development to find better methods of creating smaller, thinner cameras.