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MTV Japan Launches Exclusive Mobile Music Channel

MTV Japan Launches Exclusive Mobile Music Channel

Executives from MTV Networks were in Tokyo to launch their new Japan-exclusive mobile and online entertainment channel, Flux. The service will initially be available exclusively on KDDI through au EZWeb. Subscription fees are set at 315 yen per month. Scheduled to begin broadcasting on June 30th, Flux targets 13-34 year-olds with original Japanese video and animation productions and programming from the global MTV Networks library. Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants will splash down onto Flux as well – his first adventures in Japan outside Nick network here. Nickelodeon and MTV are part of the Viacom Inc. broadcasting empire.

Two locally produced animations already signed on are Lightman, described in a press release as “a superhero who battles against the forces of evil,” (no, you’re kidding? Against evil?) and “Hanamoski”, a series of clips “starring an elephant with a very long trunk”. That’s nice. Clips will be broadcast on mobile in 1-3 minute episodes, see the press release for more programming details.

KDDI Launching Star Wars Mobile Content for 3G Phones

KDDI Launching Star Wars Mobile Content for 3G Phones

The Force is with KDDI young WWJ Padowans. Japan may be one of the last countries on the planet to see the Revenge of the Sith film, not premiering here until July 9th, but KDDI has contracted where no other Japanese telecom has contracted before (I know, I know, it’s a Star Trek reference but cut me some slack), at least for 3G cell phones.

Starting June 9th, exclusive Star Wars content will be available to subscribers of KDDI’s EZChannel, EZBook and EZ Movie portals for au 3G CDMA 1X WIN cell phones. All six of the Star Wars films stories will be readable with EZBooks; over EZChannel, a talk-through guide on how to better understand this latest edition to the series; while EZMovie will run trailers as a quick fix for those fans who continue to be deprived of actually seeing the film. Star Wars music and Star Wars books will be available for real-world purchase on cell phones from auRecords and auBooks. More fun features include a downloadable Flash screen where Anakin becomes one with the user’s cell phone battery. His light saber flashes from blue to red as your battery power levels sink into the danger zone.

Mobile Phones Jump and Jive at 3G Wireless Disco

Mobile Phones Jump and Jive at 3G Wireless DiscoHong Kong’s Artificial Life turns 3G handsets into funky dance machines via V-disco, a wireless subscription site combining chat, music streaming and music downloading to mobile phones with interactive 3D graphics and animated virtual avatars. V-Disco will initially launch throughout China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Japanese 3G handsets should come on line in the very near future. The company plans to take on Japan’s 3G market full throttle and is currently in negotiations over its debut here.

Users and visitors to the virtual disco select an avatar persona for themselves and join the party in the club’s three interactive levels. Club goers select genres and songs from the club list, listening to their tunes while their avatar strolls along chatting – if they choose – with other party people in real time and checking out 3D animated characters moving to the beat. Avatars act as guides, companions or dancing doppelgangers. Though the figures retain a slightly cylindrical, rubbery look the V-Disco has a fun Dance Dance Revolution feel to it with a good backbeat.

Softbank Gets Test Service License

Though Softbank seems to be making more headlines with their pro baseball team, the Hawks, than Internet and broadband ventures, the company is moving decidedly forward in its long-range plan to provide mobile W-CDMA phone service in the domestic market. On 30 May, the company received its hard-fought for license to test service in the 1.7-gigahertz band. This is not yet a license for full operation as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is still working on allocation policy for this and one other bandwidth.

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.

KDDI Launches EZ TV Platform with Five New 3G Handsets

KDDI Launches EZ TV Platform with Five New Handsets

Japan’s Spring handset blitzkrieg is on the attack. Just last week, DoCoMo launched the first barrage with the five-model 901iS-series of phones boasting PDF file navigation capabilities and a four-megapixel model, the D901iS. Today, KDDI counterattacked with a press conference at the New Takanawa Prince Hotel announcing five June-release au handsets to support live analog TV reception and ramped-up EZ television features — plus a new SafetyNavi GPS function.

The handsets: W32SA by Sanyo; W31CA by Casio; W31T from Toshiba; A5511T also Toshiba; and the A5512CA by Casio. They integrate a mix of music and business functions: download capacity for attached mail has been expanded and one of the models, the W31CA, has a 3.2-megapixel camera, which is pretty good (but not as good as DoCoMo’s latest).

Previously, in order to save on packet fees, KDDI’s WIN platform EZ Channel provided late-night video content downloads for later viewing. Flat-rate services have now produced an EZ Television channel for live analog terrestrial TV programming right to the mobile. Dubbed “interactive TV” by KDDI, the new handsets can record TV theme songs, soundtracks and commercial jingles as BGM (background music) via the Chaku Uta full music download feature. There’s also a search & buy function for CDs used in programs or commercials. For an extra fee, users can subscribe to Premium or Deluxe EZ TV services. Premium costs an additional 210 yen/month and adds remote recording functionality; Deluxe allows users to pre-register names and programs for automatic recording at 315 yen.