Sharp
Sharp

Sharp

Sharp and TI to Market with Turnkey Reference Design for GSM/GPRS Camer

Sharp Corporation and Texas Instruments Inc. announced today they will combine their respective strengths to provide a reference design for GSM/GPRS camera phones, significantly cutting the necessary design time and resources required by manufacturers to introduce new camera handsets into market. This reference design will combine Sharp’s 1 Mega Pixel CCD camera module, flash memory and liquid crystal module (LCD), together with TI’s TCS2100 chipset for GSM/GPRS cell phones and TI’s OMAP-DM270 multimedia processor. The reference design also supports high level video including Nancy Technology from Office NOA and MPEG-4 standards. In addition, TI and Sharp will work together on the development of related software and technical support.

SAP and Sharp Form Global Partnership to Deliver Mobile Solutions for Business

SAP AG and Sharp Corporation announced an agreement to partner in technology development and marketing for mobile solutions for corporate users. In recent years, demand has been increasing for business applications that can be used not only on wirebound office systems, but also in the wireless mobile environment. This is particularly true for CRM systems intended for mobile workers, such as sales personnel and service technicians who work outside of the office. In the past, laptop computers have been used to handle such advanced services, but calls are growing louder for the ability to use compact, lightweight and nimble mobile terminal devices for this purpose.

Sharp in Agreement to Supply Mobile Phones to China

Sharp Corporation has signed an agreement with Datang Telecom Technology Co., Ltd., a major Chinese manufacturer of communications equipment, to supply camera-equipped GSM mobile phones to the Chinese market. Sharp has been manufacturing and selling audio-visual products, home appliances, office equipment and electronic components in China, but this is the company’s first entry into the Chinese mobile phone market.

Natsuno and Ai Kato Launch 505i; and WWJ – Facing a Transition

Herewith, I’d like to query you, the loyal and keen WWJ readers (some 30% of whom are in Europe, according to last fall’s subscriber survey), on what an outsider needs to know about Europe’s mobile Internet. What are the companies, technologies, business models, and content services serving to boost the future? What – and who – matters most? Which will triumph: i-mode or Vodafone Live? Can Japanese terminal makers kick their way into the market? And will the Open Mobile Alliance boost Europe’s wireless industry far ahead of Japan’s – given sufficient buy-in from content providers and software creators?

Cell-Based Location Services on Target and Japan has Cheapest WLAN on Earth

So far, Japanese carriers haven’t really pushed location services as stand-alone products; they’re sold as “part of” a handset and there are no handsets that are sold only as, or primarily for, navi-service capabilities. Sure, KDDI did do a big marketing push when their first GPS-enabled keitai hit the market in December 2001, but now it’s just one more feature onboard their fleet (in the January catalog, KDDI showed six of 11 handsets as having GPS capability). Also: Looks like Japan’s WLAN market – in addition to being highly fragmented – is one of the cheapest.