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DoCoMo to Acquire Singapore ISP

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that the company has agreed to make a 100% acquisition of inter-touch (BVI) Limited, a Singapore-based holding company of Internet providers who supply high-speed broadband connections and applications for business travelers at hotels across Asia-Pacific, Europe etc. The total purchase price will be US$70 million. inter-touch has capital in the amount of US$15.6 million. The company was established in 1998 and employs about 120 people.

Cell-Phone Soap Opera a Cool New Genre

Love comes to the really, really small screen in a mobile, only-in-Japan, soap opera made exclusively for KDDI 3G cellys. The live-action soap opera, Yokohama 80s, follows the predictable lives, loves, and losses of young, beach-loving Japanese boys and girls back when Madonna was still Like a Virgin. Eighties’ big hair, big shoulders, and big hits have been downsized to tiny, two-and-a-half-minute broadcast bites. The story is adapted from Shogakan Shukan’s weekly Big Comic Spirits-series “Tokyo Eighties” (published as a serial manga) but features all-new original characters and storylines by the same author. Can the mobile laundry soap commercials be far behind?

NEC Establishes Linux Partnership

MontaVista Software and NEC Electronics Corporation have announced a strategic partnership to integrate and optimize MontaVista Linux for NEC Electronics’ embedded hardware platforms. Through the partnership, MontaVista will provide MontaVista Linux platforms to NEC Electronics for use in its mobile phone, digital consumer and car navigation solutions. The integration of technologies will enable device manufacturers to build high quality products, with lower total development costs and reduced time-to-market.

Talking Art with Talby

TalbyKDDI brings a cool synchronicity of art and technology to a new mobile handset, the Talby. Conceptualized by acclaimed Australian designer Marc Newson, it weighs in at just 79 grams and a mere 13 mm thick. Though you might readily file it with other vanity handsets, it’s not just a pretty face. Arguably the lightest handset yet (except perhaps for DoCoMo’s tiny Premini at 69 grams but we’re talking about cell phones you can actually use), its ultra-slim, ultra-flat design is achieved in part by placing the antenna internally.

Talby also has a high-resolution QVGA LCD screen, Flash, 2-D barcode reader, camera, is compatible with KDDI’s EZAppli BREW applications and their advanced EZNavi Walk navigation system, plus other bells and whistles — but the “phone as fashion accessory” is definitely part of the message here.

China Mobile Selects Dilithium Networks' Leading 3G Test Tool

Dilithium Networks, a leading provider of wireless multimedia solutions, today announced that the largest mobile telecommunications operator in the world, China Mobile, has purchased the Dilithium Networks Analyzer (DNA) the industry-leading 3G protocol analysis and test tool. The DNA will be used for interoperability testing and standards compliance with equipment manufacturers.

DoCoMo: Tight Pants Meet Tight Tech

P900iVHe’s hot, he has superhuman fighting skills, an enormous broadsword, black leather pants, and a really big motorcycle — and he uses a DoCoMo P900iV 3G celly. Yeah, baby! He’s Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII and the all-new DVD Advent Children — and he’s not afraid to talk on the phone. NTT DoCoMo and handset maker Panasonic scored big time in a comprehensive tie-up with Final Fantasy series producer Square Enix securing very visible handset placement in the hugely anticipated DVD movie of Square’s most enduring Final Fantasy saga.