Motorola
Motorola

Motorola

DoCoMo in Global Terminal Deal

i-mode global allianceDoCoMo’s i-mode goes for the globe! Japan’s leading cellco and its eight alliance partners in Europe, Taiwan and Australia agreed on their first joint procurement tie-up for i-mode handsets. Korea’s LG Electronics will fill what promises to be a very large order for their camera-equipped, clamshell, L342i model with embedded antenna and Java capability. LG has made strong inroads into the European mobile marketplace. A report by IDC on Europe’s mobile phone market showed LG with.. (WWJ subscribers log in to read full story; keywords include terminal partners, i-mode licensees, subscriber count.)

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.

DoCoMo and LG to Develop 3G Phone

DoCoMo and LG to Develop 3G PhoneNTT DoCoMo, and Korea’s LG Electronics just announced a basic agreement to jointly develop a dual-mode 3G FOMA handset that works on both W-CDMA and GSM/GPRS networks. The new handset will be capable of international roaming and equipped for all basic FOMA functions, including videophone and even i-mode mobile Internet access. Commercialization is targeted for spring of 2006. Though this move may seem rather like MSN and Yahoo coming out and agreeing to create joint web pages, DoCoMo needs to hustle up more offshore business even if it means sleeping with the enemy.

IC Mobile Payment Reaches Mainstream

WWJ Portable Reportable MP3 audio report
Of the 10 mn Japanese using some form of the FeliCa contactless IC payment system as of 1 April, 700,000 are already mobile-enabled, according to Tokyo’s bitWallet, the joint-venture set up to commercialize Sony’s FeliCa technology. In today’s WWJ Portable Reportable, we speak with Norihiko Fujita, a bitWallet manager working on extending the FeliCa-based “Edy” payment service into mobile platforms. After NTT DoCoMo launched their own-branded “i-mode FeliCa” service last summer, Vodafone and KDDI are playing catch-up in 2005, and they’d better hurry: with 20,000 merchants already accepting FeliCa-based payments, there’s money to be made from mainstream users. (“Edy” stands, somewhat hopefully, for “Euro, Dollar, Yen”).

Sanyo to Supply DoCoMo 3G Phones

Sanyo Electric Co., seeking to recover from a record loss last year, said it will resume supplying handsets to NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s biggest mobile phone operator, for the first time since 1999. Sanyo will provide a handset for high-speed, or third- generation, service to Tokyo-based DoCoMo this year, said company spokesman Akihiko Oiwa, confirming a Nihon Keizai newspaper report. The Osaka-based company expects to ship 1 million of the handsets annually, and supply two other models starting next year.

DoCoMo to Sell Nokia 3G Phones

NTT DoCoMo will start selling Nokia Oyj phones as early as October, getting its second foreign handset maker after Motorola Inc. for its high-speed network. Nokia, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker, will produce a model for DoCoMo’s 3G network, which allows users to download music and video clips and access the Internet at a faster rate than older phones, Chief Financial Officer Yoshiaki Ugaki said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday.

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?

Dilithium adds ISUP Triggering to DNA 3G Test Tool

Dilithium Networks, a leading provider of wireless multimedia solutions, today announced a major new release of its industry-leading 3G protocol analysis and test tool family, Dilithium Networks Analyzer (DNA). Release 3.0 of DNA provides support for ISUP terminal and monitoring (including China), ISUP signaling to initiate and receive calls, and ISUP based trigger for traffic monitoring. DNA 3.0 also incorporates powerful triggering capabilities for monitoring multiple simultaneous channels with the option of capturing traffic upon trigger. An Auto-Dialer feature, available as an option to existing customers, provides automated and unattended testing capabilities. Additional features include enhancements for ISDN support, expanded message logging capabilities, and more.

IEC Broadband World Forum Asia

The Broadband World Forum Asia, which is officially sponsored by NTT, will be presented May 30-June 2 at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center. The International Engineering Consortium (IEC). IEC announced that Japanese companies like NEC, Fujitsu, Oki Electric, Alaxala and many other multinational corporations, such as Motorola, Siemens and Alcatel will attend. NTT Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Norio Wada is official conference chairperson.