Rather than be held prisoner to any company’s proprietary software, cellular service providers (which distribute most phones) are beginning to ask specifically for Linux-based handsets, says Michael Sudol, general manager of the group at Motorola PCS that’s focused on Linux. So in January, Motorola released its second Linux-based phone for Asia.
SEVEN Networks, Inc. announced today that the company’s mobile email software is now shipping on BREW-based handsets in the Japanese market. SEVEN’s software provides secure, real-time access to Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, IMAP4 and POP3 email, calendar, personal contacts, corporate directories, network drives and desktop documents. Japan’s second largest mobile operator, KDDI Corp., is the first to launch SEVEN-enabled email services on BREW-based handsets.
Here’s one for the books: Symbian OS proponent Fujitsu and Mitsubishi (which makes decent handsets for the domestic market but is unknown outside of Japan) have announced that they are getting together to develop new FOMA handsets. The press release today appears to be dressed up in terms of Fujitsu offering its expertise to Mitsubishi with Symbian, but it also hints that the two will combine on hardware development too. Given the fact that Fujitsu is a leading proponent of Symbian, and that DoCoMo president Keiji Tachikawa hinted that Symbian will be the OS of choice, the announcement looks as if Mitsubishi has figured the lay of the land and jumped on the bandwagon.
In 1973 Martin Cooper, the inventor of the first portable handset, was the first person to make a call on a cell phone (from Motorola to arch-rival Bell.) Now he’s Chairman of ArrayComm, which has developed its iBurst Personal Broadband System based on adaptive array antenna technology. According to the company, iBurst allows mega-bit-per-second cellular bandwidth with much better efficiency than anything extant 3G systems can provide. In today’s exclusive WWJ interview, Cooper argues that 4G is already here; launches broadsides at carriers, engineers, and handset makers who have yet to fulfill the promise of wireless phones; and charges that, after “years of hype,” the industry has failed to deliver on 3G. He also relates his vision for the mobile space: “The Internet will engender thousands of different [mobile] applications.” This interview is a WWJ Classic. Full Program Run-time 17:38
The 3G Mobile Forum 2004 was held at the Hilton Tokyo Bay, January 13-16, and attracted over 70 top-class speakers in what we construed was an attempt to hammer out where they think 3G is going. With such a treasure trove sitting on our doorsteps across Tokyo Bay, we couldn’t resist bearing our cameras down on some of the leading lights of the show. The following preview will give you a taste of the upcoming programs we’ll running over the next few weeks. Also included in this clip is a demo of a mobile solar power source that was on display from Korean startup Soleitec, they have this sleek and working re-charger ready to keep your mobile device running when the batteries are dying, all for $30. The device should be ready to ship in 8 weeks and they are looking for partners to sell this product. Our only advice: Don’t save this one for a rainy day! Full Program Run-time 6:13
China United Telecommunications Corp. (China Unicom), one of the largest wireless network operators in the world, has awarded the Phase III expansion of its Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1X networks and upgrading of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks in the capital city and 12 leading provinces of China to Motorola’s Global Telecom Solutions Sector (GTSS), a leader in integrated communications solutions. The CDMA2000 1X Phase III Expansion Project Confirms Motorola as Biggest Network Vendor to World’s Third Largest Mobile Network Operator.
