IDC released a report earlier this month which identified InnoPath as the strongest MDM (Mobile Device Management) vendor in its ability to gain market share and alignment with market opportunities. Of the top eleven MDM providers, InnoPath was favorably positioned with its ability to leverage market trends, its growth potential, as well as its ability to gain market share.
Nepro Japan recently conducted this survey focused on Japanese cell phone users new handset upgrade feature priorities. The questionnaire returned 3,817 valid responses and indicated demographics show 56% of the sample was female, 3% in their teens, 35% in their twenties, 43% in their thirties, and 19% aged forty or older. Some rather interesting results after the jump.
AP is reporting, via Yahoo, that NEC Corp. said Tuesday its profit in the April-June period more than tripled, helped by turnaround efforts in its overseas mobile phone operations. Profit at the Tokyo-based electronics manufacturer totalled 973 million yen (US$8.2 million) for the three months ended June 30, up dramatically from 261 million yen the same period the previous year.
According to the Nikkei, via Reuters, Sanyo Electric will unload its handset sales unit in a deal that could be worth up to 10 billion yen ($85 million). Telecom Sanyo operates 60 retail stores in Japan and serves as a sales agent for DoCoMo and other mobile operators. It offers handsets made by Sanyo as well as other mobile phone producers, the newspaper said.
After last week’s O2 and Telstra i-mode cancellation news came out, it took hardly any time at all for the obfuscation and mis-analyses to hit the Web.
The news, in case you missed it, confirmed that Australia’s Telstra would, and the UK’s O2 most likely would, end their i-mode services; Telstra will terminate i-mode support at the end of this year, while O2 will stop selling new handsets this month and phase the service out over the next two years.
O2 UK was reported to have 260,000 active users, a dozen i-mode-compatible handsets and some 150 sites; O2 Ireland has not stated their subscriber numbers, but the Times said total O2 subscribers were 546,000, implying that Ireland had 286,000 i-moders. Telstra reportedly has fewer than 60,000 subscribers. WWJ members login for the full skinny.
Tech-On has posted an interview with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., China’s leading telecom equipment manufacturer, who have set up an exhibit – for the first time ever in Japan – at this years Wireless Japan tradeshow. Huawei is one of the most technology-oriented companies in China with sales at an annual growth rate of 40% that are expected to surpass 1 trillion yen in 2007.
According to an article on Media in Canada, via Mobile Kawya, states; “QR technology has been incredibly successful for marketers in Japan and we expect similar success in Canada,” Michael Gramlow, CD interactive at Dentsu Canada, tells MiC. “It’s a great way to connect with a youth target that’s notoriously difficult to reach – not just because it offers something new and different for them to interact with, but also because it generates a lot of street buzz.” The four-week campaign, which ends on July 15, involves the wild posting of 1,100 posters on construction boards and within frames on office buildings.
DoCoMo introduced their 704i-series of eight 3G FOMA handsets, as mentioned yesterday, featuring a range of models from Fujitsu, NEC, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, Mitsubishi and the LG Chocolate design. The F704i, SO704i, N704iμ and P704iμ will be available this month while the D704i and SH704i will go on sale by the end of August. The P704i will be launched by the end of September and we’ll have to wait for that LG sweetness until sometime in October. Specs and images after the jump.
SoftBank announced they have received a permit from the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications to run femtocell trials. The experiment, using 2GHz belt, will be conducted in partnership with ip.access, Motorola, Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson Japan, Samsung, Sonas, Ubiquisys and NEC. Femtocell is a micro cellular phone base station that can be set it up in the home or office and offer mobile handsets voice services via existing fixed-line ADSL connections.
KDDI has announced that the company reached an agreement with Microsoft to jointly develop and provide applications using a Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model for corporate users. The companies will also create an ecosystem to provide extensive support to independent software vendor (ISV) partners and spur the development of new service-enabled applications to drive momentum for new SaaS applications. The service will allow customers to access their data on a PC in the office or with a mobile phone when they are on the go.
