KDDI and Okinawa Cellular Telephone are pleased to announce an addition to their new high-speed 3G mobile handset lineup. The new A5504T by Toshiba, available from mid-April, is the first handset to merge BluetoothTM with BREWTM applications, and comes with a mega pixel camera, web-authoring software, multi-media output functionality, EZNavi Walk compatiblity, and data transmission speeds of up to 144kbps.
KDDI announced a new line of 3G phones to be available end of February 2004. The models include the W21H by Hitachi, equipped with a mega pixel camera, the first of the kind among CDMA 1X WIN mobile phones; the Sanyo A5405SA, equipped with functions such as “pair function” and “smart mode” and the Sony Ericsson A1402S, equipped with a 2.3 inch QVGA LCD and au’s first infrared ray communication function.
If ever there was proof how far DoCoMo has lifted up its skirt and fled the Microsoft camp for Symbian and perhaps a Linux chaser, here’s the pudding; 39 months after Keiji Tachikawa and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer stood on a platform together and promised to “agressively” promote MS’ microbrowser technology and CE OS on DoCoMo Cellies, DoCoMo has finally cut the cord and axed its Mobimagic subsidiary, the company supposed to have us grappling with Windows on our handsets as well as our PCs
Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of semiconductor chip-maker Intel Corp., has invested in a Tokyo-based mobile virtual network operator that is offering nationwide fixed-price wireless access through both wireless LAN and mobile telephone networks. The investment, the value of which was not disclosed, makes Intel Capital a minority shareholder in Japan Communications Inc. and is aimed at giving a boost to the company, and ultimately the domestic market for wireless data communications, company executives said at a Tokyo news conference on Thursday.
The redoubtable reporters at Japan’s leading business daily, the Nikkei, have just come out with a poll showing that 1,000 Japanese teenagers surveyed recently moaned that their mobile phone bills are eating up to half their pocket money. In fact, a lot of them apparently said they wanted to reduce their spending on mobiles so they could do other productive (consumptive) pursuits such as buying fashion or going to rock concerts (fine, as long as it’s Motorhead). Although this sounds like a silly season story (baring in mind that few things are sillier than Christmas in Japan) and the poll didn’t give any real useful demographics (where, when, ages, etc.) it sounds about right to us!
Toshiba Corp and Fujitsu Ltd each have developed a new mobile phone with connectivity based on “Bluetooth,” a technology specification for short-range radio links, and received the Bluetooth logo certification needed for their sales of the phones. Their movement is believed to be directed at the Japanese market. There are not many Bluetooth-enabled cell phones in the Japanese market — Sony Corp launched the “C413S” in 2001 and Sharp Corp already offers a PDA terminal and a PHS terminal based on Bluetooth.
