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Epson and SANYO to Merge Liquid Crystal Businesses

Seiko Epson Corporation and SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. have announced that they would merge their liquid crystal businesses to form a new company. The new company will be known as SANYO EPSON IMAGING DEVICES CORPORATION and is planned to begin operations in October 2004. Epson will hold 55% of the joint venture, and SANYO 45%. The new entity will aim to become a leading manufacturer of small and medium-sized LCDs for mobile phones, digital cameras, and for use in automobiles.

KDDI Releases New Line of 3G Phones

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.

KDDI/ DoCoMo 3G Phone Wars Simmer

At his regular press briefing yesterday, DoCoMo president Keichi Tachikawa said that DoCoMo’s ongoing battle with KDDI to make the best 3G mobile phones is a battle that sometimes KDDI wins and one that sometimes DoCoMo wins, but that strategically, in terms of new services, it’s a war that DoCoMo will win. As of February 2004 the handset battle pits KDDI’s W21H, A5405SA and A1402S against DoCoMo’s 900i series, with the latest, the Panasonic model out about now. Behind that, there’s a speed war, with DoCoMo hastening the rollout of HSDPA initially at 3.6Mbps then 14.4 Mbps vs. CDMA1X WIN’s best-effort 2.4 Mbps. The more important issue for Tachikawa, however, is which carrier will successfully develop a new era (or as he mentioned-about 8 times- a “paradigm shift”) of services over the next two years.

Tu-Ka's Bone Cell Phone – Good Vibrations

The TS41 by Sanyo is a hot topic this month for one simple, you don’t have to press this small cell phone to your ear. Tu-Ka Cellular has the world’s first bone conduction cell phone. All you need do is put the top side of the phone on your jaw or any part of your head, and an installed vibration transmitter “Sonic Speaker” will transmit sound through the bone, enabling listening clarity even in noisy places such as a construction area, for example. Originally, this phone was designed for elderly people and others with hearing disabilities. Details in Japanese Here

Dec. Subs: KDDI WINs Again, Vodafone's Up!

KDDI has taken more than 50 percent of new subscribers for the third month in a row, and there is good news at last for Vodafone, for the first time since June the struggling carrier actually broke the 100,000 barrier. DoCoMo however ended the year down in Japanese carriers unrelenting battle to get more cellies in pockets and handbags. The latest figures out show that KDDI took a huge 289,500 subscribers, more than double that of DoCoMo’s 114,600.

Teens Blow 50% of Pocket Money on Cellies

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!