NEC has signed a letter of intent to resell RFID identification and tracking system for prisons from Alanco in Asia. The agreement is non-exclusive in Japan but exclusive in other, unidentified, Asian markets. A definitive agreement, worth several million, will be signed in the next thirty days, said Alanco.
Anticipating that a 950-MHz band will be assigned for RFID applications in Japan, Hewlett-Packard Japan Ltd. will open a RFID verification facility in May in Japan with three partner companies. HP’s partner companies include Toyo Kanetsu Solutions K.K., IDEC Controls Ltd. and ThreeQ. Ltd., all of which are familiar with implementing logistics controlling systems in Japan. Designated an HP RFID Noisy Lab, the lab will be located in Toyo Kanetsu’s plant in Kisarazu, Chiba prefecture, similar to a U.S. lab HP operates in Omaha, Nebraska.
KDDI and Fujistu have introduced a prototype smart phone, or “hybrid information terminal,” that will be available to visitors attending the Aichi World Expo 2005, which begins here in March and runs through to the end of September. The ‘Love and Mate’ [.jpg] (yes, that’s what they’re calling it) handset comes in Orange and Blue; both feature Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for PocketPC software for PDA and phone operation, and Windows Media Player 9. This is one of the first deployments of Windows on a phone in Japan.
OMRON Corporation, a leading Japanese RFID systems provider, is launching the V740 series EPC reader/writer for UHF-band RFID tags in North America. The first UHF tag reader/writer from a Japanese RFID device manufacturer, the unit supports both EPC Class 0 and Class 1 protocols. It is also designed to accommodate Generation 2 protocol by EPC Global (C1G2) by upgrading its firmware when these specifications become available. Additionally, the product supports standard network protocols including DHCP, UDP/IP over Ethernet, 820.11x (Wi-Fi), HTTP and SNMP, and its superior network adaptability enables its software to be easily implemented from remote sites.
A key patent holder’s demand for royalties has triggered concerns that promising RFID technology could become embroiled in an intellectual-property battle. The protocol is likely to contain certain patented technology from RFID equipment maker Intermec Technologies. The Everett, Wash., company recently demanded royalties for the use of the patents and is suing Matrics, a rival, for allegedly infringing on some of them.
CEATEC JAPAN 2004 was officially launched at a press conference held in Tokyo, attended by some 130 members of the press. Shigeru Ikeda, president of the Communications and Information network Association of Japan (CIAJ), opened the conference with a greeting on behalf of the three sponsoring organizations. Jiro Iriye, director of the CEATEC JAPAN Management Office, then provided an overview of this year’s exhibition, which is rapidly becoming a major international event. CEATEC JAPAN 2004 will be held in the 5-day period from October 5 to October 9. The theme of this year’s event is “Ubiquitous Society–Digitally Enriched, Accelerating to the Next Stage.”
The latest Mobinet study from A.T. Kearney reports that 41 percent of the world’s wireless phone users expect to be regular or heavy users of data services by 2005. The Index looks at current and planned usage of wireless data services such as mobile email, games, music downloads, photo messaging, and news updates and the strong user demand represents a whopping 200-percent increase over the past year. Have mobile data services finally reached a tipping point?
DoCoMo Chieftain Tachikawa gave his final press conference of the year and looked happier and more relaxed than we’ve seen him for some time. And he should. After good first half financials and FOMA finally taking off, he was able to give a good spin on DoCoMo’s performance and managed to sling an arrow at Microsoft, as only a spin-off from a monopoly can! Japan’s phone market unexpectedly achieved solid 1H growth; net additions were almost the same 1H 03. 2H was down, but overall growth for DoCoMo will be 80 percent of 02. Japan’s phone market is NOT saturated. DoCoMo still thinks it will achieve 8 percent growth. Non-voice is growing, as well as voice. Japan’s penetration rate still lower than Europe. DoCoMo still sees growth opportunities. Full Program Run-time 20:24
Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd announced that it built a prototype wireless LAN-capable compact personal digital assistant (PDA) featuring a 4-inch SVGA LCD display with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. It has 802.11b wireless LAN, Bluetooth and infrared communication capabilities so that it can access directly to a LAN or virtual private network (VPN) without using any communication tool.
DoCoMo announced today that its R-Click Service, a new area-information service incorporating i-mode mobile phones and a “wireless tag” device, will be tested by Mori Building Co. Ltd. at the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo. The test will be conducted from November 1, 2003 to February 1, 2004. Individuals participating in the test will each receive a wireless tag transmitter, called a Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tag. Approximately 4,500 RFID tags will be distributed for the test.
