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3G Network Limitations Define Mobile TV

3G Network Limitations Define Mobile TVIt’s rare for WWJ editors, a jaded bunch, to get too excited about new service announcements, but on 6 December, we jumped on this fresh Vodafone press release that seemed to herald the emergence of the rather cool, made-in-Japan ‘Vodafone Live! BB’ (BB= broadband) music- and video-download service into the Group’s European markets. Vodafone live! BB uses the ‘i-Pod model’ to get large media files onto mobile phones, avoiding network traffic fees and should be, we have always thought, a no-brainer for export to Vodafone Opcos outside Japan. Don’t mobilers everywhere want to save on packet/data fees and get audio and DVD-quality video onto their handsets?

Korean 3G Phone Finally Hits Japan Market

Korean 3G Phone Finally Hits Japan MarketKDDI/au has announced the roll-out of their A1405PT, made by Pantech & Curitel, will begin today in the Hokkaido region and throughout all areas of Japan over the weekend. The phone was jointly developed with KDDI and marks the first entry of a Korean maker’s handset into the Japanese market. Touted, at 98 grams, as the ‘lightest 3G handset’ available in the market, it comes with a limited set of features (only a VGA camera, for example), but it does have an organic EL “Stream Screen” sub-display and has a built-in crime prevention buzzer function, a feature which was also just introduced by DoCoMo (for good reason).

WWJ has been tracking rumours and hints on the entry of Korean terminals for some time now but this is hard fact on the ground. We have seen Sanyo and Casio pushing into the U.S. market along with Sharp and NEC making moves in Europe. It’s clearly becoming a two-way street with the recent launch of Motorola’s M-1000 with DoCoMo, who have also indicated that LG and Nokia models are in the pipeline.

Vodafone Selects A-GPS Solution

Openwave Systems announced that NEC Corp. is integrating Openwave Location Manager into NEC’s Network Assisted Location Information Solutions. Vodafone K.K. in Japan is the first customer to select the combined solution. Openwave and NEC’s location solution is in compliance with the pre-standard Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) standard currently under consideration by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The solution integrates Openwave Location Manager’s Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) with NEC’s SUPL positioning server to provide a high-accuracy, Assisted GPS (A-GPS) offering that enables location-based services for both the consumer and enterprise markets. The combined solution also incorporates an access management feature to protect subscriber privacy at both the mobile handset and application levels.

Bandai Brings Tamagotchi Mobile to EU

Bandai Networks Japan is collaborating with Living Mobile Germany, a European developer and marketer of mobile-phone games, to offer a mobile-phone version of “Tamagotchi” for telecom providers throughout Europe. Bandai created a global craze when it released the hit portable LCD game in 1996, selling 40 million units worldwide. In 2004, the “Tamagotchi Connection” series was released, and has already sold over 15 million units worldwide, the mobile-phone version will be available across Europe beginning in December 2005, according to the company.

Mobile Cohesion and ubit Co-operate to Develop Mobile Content for Communities

Mobile Cohesion, the company that has pioneered the concept of partner, profit and performance focused relationship management solutions for the mobile industry, has announced a collaboration venture with leading content management company ubit from Japan. ubit has been focusing on the mobile internet since 1999 and its MS2 system is now serving more than 300 mobile sites worldwide, including Orange Group and Nikkei Business Press.

3G Fashion Show Launches i-Channel

3G Fashion Show Launches i-ChannelToday’s WWJ video is full of gorgeous, uhm.. mobiles. This fall, DoCoMo introduced their new 701i models using… models. The 701i-series are stripped down (sans FeliCa) and sexed-up with the carrier’s new ‘i-Channel’ push service for customers too contrarian to even try i-mode. DoCoMo also introduced two hybrid FlashCast enabled designer units; the ‘stylish’ FOMA Dolce from Sharp and the GPS-enabled SA700iS from Sanyo. The Flash lite-based system delivers scrolling news, weather and other information and comes pre configured and already switched on thus showing how easy i-mode really is, according to Mr. i-mode, DoCoMo’s Takeshi Natsuno who took center-stage after the lovely ladies had everyone’s attention.