SoftBank
SoftBank

SoftBank

Nation-Wide VoIP Network by Stealth?

My discussion with Steven Graff, who recently joined WWJ as marketing guru and maker-of-all-things-happen, suddenly turned technical. “Imagine being able to throw the switch on a network of several million WiFi hotspots located all over Japan. What if Yahoo’s modems permitted Yahoo to pass traffic through the user’s DSL connection and WiFi air interface independent of the home network? Today’s Viewpoint is a fable which, were it true, would shake Japan’s mobile market to the core.

NTT DoCoMo's FeliCa Mobile Wallet Launch

The Mobile Wallet is nearly in our pockets. In what promises to be just the first ripple in a wave of material promoting FeliCa, Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of DoCoMo’s i-mode Planning Department, today took the covers off the first four FeliCa handsets that will be coming into stores this July. Regular Wireless Watchers will know we have been tracking this story over the last 6 months starting with the trial-launch video program Here.

TD-CDMA: New 3G Standard Trials

Softbank Corp is rushing to break into Japan’s 8-Trillion Yen cellular phone market by every possible means, even though there are already four dominant cellular operators. “We will start the business one way or another,” said Masayoshi Son, president of Softbank. Some experts predict that Softbank will offer a cheaper price for the TD-CDMA based data communication service than existing competitors.

Japan Studies New 3G Standard

The Government is considering a relatively new standard known as TDD (time division duplex) as a technology that up to three new providers could use to operate high-speed, 3G networks. If licenses are granted, it would spell new competition for NTT DoCoMo Inc, KDDI Corp and Vodafone KK. So far, three companies including Japan’s largest broadband operator, Softbank Corp, have expressed interest in obtaining licenses to run TDD networks.

Mobile Intelligence Tour Announced

The Wireless Watch Japan Media Project will co-produce the Mobile Intelligence Tour (MIT) to Tokyo from 12-16 April 2004, promising to be one of this year’s premiere events for extracting business intelligence from the Japan mobile market. MIT aims to expose participants to the best and brightest individuals and companies making mobile work in Japan, the world’s No. 1 wireless market, and will include highly focussed company briefings, presentations, visitations, end-user demonstrations, access to local experts, and industry-related social events.

DoCoMo Pulls the Plug on AOL

Chalk, cheese and lost opportunities: DoCoMo has ended its mystery-laden, Internet Bubble-popped tie up with AOL after deciding that it couldn’t make any money with them, and it’s flogging its entire barrow load of stock (its 42.3%) holding back to AOL at, SURPRIZE, a good deal less than the $100 million it was reported to have paid. So are minority shareholders Mitsui & Co. and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. In fact the Nikkei put it this way, we…”were exploring new services that would link personal computers and cellular phones over the Internet, but NTT DoCoMo has concluded that the venture is unlikely to become profitable.”