Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft

Visto Expands Presence in Asia Pacific

Visto Corporation today announced a significant expansion of its Asia Pacific operations to support new market growth in Asia with the opening of a world-class development center and sales offices in China and Japan, and the appointment of Antoine Blondeau as senior vice president and general manager of the Asia-Pacific region. An accomplished executive in the software and wireless telecommunications industries, Blondeau will be based in Visto’s new Tokyo office.

ACCESS' NetFront Powers Full Internet Browsing on N901iS 3G Handset

ACCESS announced that its NetFront full Internet mobile browser has been selected by NTT DoCoMo for deployment in its 3G FOMA N901iS handset. The N901iS is part of DoCoMo’s 901iS Mobile Wallet series—the most advanced handset series ever developed by DoCoMo. In combination with ACCESS’ NetFront browser, the N901iS handset’s advanced functionality expands to deliver support for both i-mode as well as full Internet browsing. ACCESS’ NetFront browser provides N901iS end-users with a rich, full Internet mobile browsing experience that includes the ability to scale down standard Web pages to fit the width of the phone screen, thus eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling while significantly facilitating the mobile browsing experience.

ACCESS Announces NetFront v3.2 Browser for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition

ACCESS announced the availability of the English language version of NetFront® v3.2 for Pocket PC 2003/2003 Second Edition (SE) which supports Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 SE. NetFront v3.2 for Pocket PC 2003/2003 SE builds on the success of ACCESS’ award-winning NetFront v3.1 for Pocket PC browser by providing support for key new technologies and features including JV-Lite(tm) 2 CE edition, ACCESS’ Sun authorized Java virtual machine which supports the Connected Device Configuration (CDC) standard, and native support for Macromedia Flash(tm).

Motorola Launches M1000 3G SmartPhone Developed Jointly with NTT DoCoMo

Motorola, Inc. a global leader in wireless communications and a mobile phone market leader in North Asia today announced the launch of the FOMA M1000, the world’s first-ever WLAN-integrated W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS dual-mode smartphone. Developed jointly by Motorola and NTT DoCoMo, the new handset is modeled on Motorola’s 3G A1000, which won high acclaim from consumers in Europe and Asia. The M1000 will be available in Japan from July 1, 2005 through NTT DoCoMo channels. (See Wireless Watch Japan’s Video Report from the press launch)

Motorola Debuts 3G Smartphone in Japan

Motorola Debuts 3G Smartphone in JapanDoCoMo’s hybrid 3G-PDA M1000 handset is off the showroom floor and finally on the street. WWJ was at the launch event and we’ve put together a quick video program showing just what sort of hoops this smartphone jumps through. Previewed at an April 15 press conference, the tri-band business-use handset from Motorola juggles W-CDMA, GSM and GPRS for global roaming, opens Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs as well as PDF files, and allows multiple email functions including POP and IMAP email. Internet access channels through the Opera 7.5 browser. DoCoMo took the (daring) step of dropping i-mode capability for the M1000 in favor of global compatibility. More PDA than phone, all navigation is through the bright, 2.9-inch touch screen.

Index Tuning in for Mobile Digital TV Contracts

Index Tuning in for Mobile Digital TV ContractsIndex Corp., a Japanese company specializing in creating content for mobile phones, is rounding up TV contracts aimed at specialized interactive services linking mobile handsets and television programming. A story in the Nihon Keizai business daily reported the company was on the verge of issuing around 20 billion yen in shares to four other broadcasters including Nippon Television Network, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Fuji Television Network and TV Tokyo. When asked by WWJ, Index would say only that parties concerned were in negotiations and nothing could be confirmed yet. The news, confirmed or not, drove Index shares up 9.5 percent on the JASDAQ on 25 May. Both TV Asahi and Fuji Television already own around 1-2 percent of shares in Index.

The company is currently in partnership with five broadcasters for a remote control application that displays TV listings for the whole country on mobile phones. Launched in March, TeMo Chan is free to download, works with all carriers and also provides access to official mobile sites of TV programmers. Partners are Tokyo Broadcasting, Fuji TV, TV Asahi, Nippon Broadcasting (NTV), TV Tokyo.

France Telecom & ACCESS Develop Rich Media Solutions

ACCESS announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with France Telecom for the joint development of a complete wireless Internet solution based on ACCESS’ products and services. This R&D partnership will enable both companies to collaboratively design and deploy innovative, rich media mobile Internet technologies for France Telecom mobile customers. The R&D department of France Télécom and ACCESS are committed to leveraging resources and sharing expertise to develop products based on the NetFront browser framework. The technologies that will be supported within the browser framework include SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), streaming video, SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language), and other rich media and animation technologies.

DoCoMo Unveils Motorola Tri-Band 3G Smartphone

DoCoMo Unveils Motorola Tri-Band 3G SmartphoneNTT DoCoMo has partnered with Motorola to roll-out a hybrid FOMA/PDA handset with global roaming, full Internet browsing, PC mail and wireless LAN access. Launched today at a low key Tokyo press conference, the new M1000 [.jpg image] is aimed squarely at Japanese business users looking to integrate a lot of functionality into one pocket-sized package. DoCoMo has dumped both i-mode and its new FeliCa applications to make room for a tri-band system (W-CDMA, GSM and GPRS) and Internet access via Opera’s 7.5 browser. The company’s trophy handset opens Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs as well as PDF files, and allows multiple email functions including POP and IMAP email. It’s also compatible with 80211.b WiFi (Wow!). While equipped with pre-requisite Bluetooth compatibility, this new Motorola is not loaded with DoCoMo’s flagship product, i-mode access — a first for a major handset since 1999, as far as we can determine. Will this be a cool crossbreed or Frankenstein monster?

Mitsubishi Electric Selects ACCESS NetFront i-mode Global Profile

ACCESS announced that its NetFront(r) i-mode(tm) Global Profile integrated software solution was selected by Mitsubishi Electric for deployment in its M430i i-mode handset. The M430i is currently offered by leading i-mode operators such as Bouygues Telecom, COSMOTE, E-Plus, Far EastTone, KPN Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, BASE, Telestra, and WIND, with additional i-mode operators to follow. NetFront i-mode Global Profile is a comprehensive, integrated solution specifically optimized for the i-mode Global service. It offers operators and their handset partners seamless i-mode Global deployments while reducing overall cost and time-to-market.