Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi

Head 'em up and Mova Out! More New DoCoMo Cellies

Head 'em up and Mova Out! More New DoCoMo CelliesCellcos and handset manufacturers here are counting on the seemingly limitless Japanese craving to trade up to the trendiest and newest feature-packed cellies to push cash flow forward. Right behind the recent roll out of DoCoMo’s shiny, feature-packed 3G FOMA 901i-series comes a new line of four “Mova” (the carrier’s 2G brand) handsets targeting niche buyers. Lets take a look at these babies as each one has a distinctive feature targeting a specific, finicky, not-yet-ready-for-3G keitai shopper.

Niche marketing is undeniably cost-intensive — all those handsets require development, marketing and manpower to support. If 3G is where DoCoMo wants everyone to be, why continue to innovate within the older, 2G Mova line?

Ryozanpaku Launches i-mode Pachinko Service in Japan

Ryozanpaku International, Inc., announced today that it has successfully established itself as an authorized Docomo i-mode content provider in Japan. Japanese consumers can now access the latest news and information on the Pachinko industry directly from their mobile phones. In April 2004, Ryozanpaku entered into a service and revenue sharing agreement with MS Communications Co., Ltd. Under the agreement Ryozanpaku is an authorized Docomo i-mode content provider and is permitted to deliver its proprietary content over the Docomo i-mode network.

Vodafone Rolling Out New V401D Handset

Vodafone KK announced today that from June 23 it will offer the V401D by Mitsubishi Electric [image] which features the industry’s first control pad that can be operated by finger tracing. According to the company, the V401D’s side touch pad makes it easy to operate functions like screen scrolling and camera zoom by finger tracing. The handset also comes with a jump touch feature that lets users record often-used functions via different tracing patterns so desired functions can be called up instantly, also the 2-megapixel Super CCD Honeycom camera is activated when the lens cover is opened, see footage of this phone in our Summer Handset Parade on Video here.

Japan Prepares to Export 3G Phones

Originally published as a guest column in Fierce Wireless, 9 June – Ed.
If 2001-2003 has been Phase 1 of Japan’s 3G era (all three major carriers launched W-CDMA or CDMA 2000 networks in this period), then 2004 is definitely shaping up to be Phase 2 — and the difference is that now Japan 3G is moving overseas. The assault is being led in part by Japan’s keitai makers who, under NTT DoCoMo’s lash, have invested heavily in sophisticated new terminals and are now looking to markets further afield in order to generate additional ROI.

Summer Handset Parade on Video

Summer Handset Parade on VideoThe Tokyo Business Show 2004 opened yesterday with a light show and pounding music that highlighted Vodafone on center stage. They have taken a beating in the marketplace — and the press — lately over the lack of new handsets, but here are 5 fresh-for-summer models that should make the critics, and customers, take notice. The V602SH from Sharp would seem to be pick of the litter with its industry-first, 2x-optical-zoom camera and huge, swivel-style LCD screen. The sleeper surprise unit, upon closer inspection, has to be the V401D from Mitsubishi with its Super-CCD Honeycomb 2-megapixel camera and — another industry first — a side-mounted finger tracing control feature to operate screen scrolling and camera zoom!!! We were in for another treat afterwards wandering by the DoCoMo booth to see they had just rolled-out the new micro-mini Premini by Sony Ericsson. If you couldn’t make it out to Tokyo Big Sight in person then we hope you’ll enjoy this quick video clip from our adventure. Program

Vodaphone KK Unleashes 2.5G Terminal Blitz

It’s been a year or so, but finally Vodafone K.K. is attempting an aggressive rollout of impressive (albeit) 2/2.5G handset terminals clearly aimed at fun– and the young. Over the next couple of months the company is adding 5 terminals [.pdf here], including the new V602 from Sharp and V601 from Toshiba that have mulitimedia features even more impressive than those aboard DoCoMo 900i series, as well as an improved radio phone from Sanyo and a clearer TV picture from Sharp. Better still, last week’s news that Vodafone has decided to adopt a FeliCa compatible removable solution for contactless payments shows the company is definitely on board with promoting the mobile phone away from a communications/ game device into become a viable e-commerce tool not only here in Japan, but potentially accross the vast Vodafone empire.