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NEC to Supply Platform and i-mode Mobile Handset for MTS Russia

NEC announced today that it has received orders of Mobile Internet Platform and mobile handsets for Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)’s i-mode(TM) service. MTS Russia’s largest mobile phone operator in Russia and CIS which is currently holding over 40 million subscribers and over 35% market share. i-mode operation in Russia is scheduled to start in September 2005, and further operation is scheduled in Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Belarus in the future. Expansion of high-level functionality for the mobile Internet services in Russia is moving forward, and advanced and rich services are becoming a reality in near future. “Russia is one of the important markets for NEC.” said Noboru Wakita, Senior General Manager of NEC’s Mobile Solutions Operations Unit.

Nintendo, IGN Join to Create a New Wi-Fi Mobile Gaming Network

Nintendo is partnering with IGN Entertainment to create an innovative network for portable video games that is not only expansive but also extremely easy for everyone to use. Set to debut later this year, the wireless service for Nintendo DST will use IGN’s GameSpy Technology to let people around the world link easily and wirelessly to play games, just as if they were playing face-to-face. The Nintendo DS service will provide an easy, seamless transition to wireless Wi-Fi gaming, the service represents the first foray by IGN’s GameSpy into portable games.

France Telecom & ACCESS Develop Rich Media Solutions

ACCESS announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with France Telecom for the joint development of a complete wireless Internet solution based on ACCESS’ products and services. This R&D partnership will enable both companies to collaboratively design and deploy innovative, rich media mobile Internet technologies for France Telecom mobile customers. The R&D department of France Télécom and ACCESS are committed to leveraging resources and sharing expertise to develop products based on the NetFront browser framework. The technologies that will be supported within the browser framework include SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), streaming video, SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language), and other rich media and animation technologies.

Youth Driving Asia's Mobile Market

As all Wireless Watchers will know, the youth market in the Asia-Pacific region is becoming a significant driver for growth in the region’s mobile-phone market, according to a report by In-Stat. Around 10-15 percent of all youth disposable income is spent on mobile products in developed countries, displacing spending on traditional youth products like clothing, toys, comic books, etc., while messaging accounted for 40.3 percent of Asian mobile youth data expenditures in 2004.

Bandai, Namco Joining Forces?

Bandai, creator of “The Power Rangers” and “Ultraman”, valued at 236.5 billion yen, may merge with Namco, who created “Pac-Man,” and has a market value of 154.9 billion yen, to create Japan’s second-biggest toy and video-game maker. The companies will combine as early as September under a holding company run by Bandai President Takeo Takasu and Namco Vice Chairman Kyushiro Takagi, according to Nihon Keizai shimbun article today. The companies may also develop content for high-speed Internet access and mobile phone users, the newspaper said.

BenQ Chooses Renesas SH-Mobile for its Latest 2.5G GSM Phones

Renesas Technology Corp. and BenQ Corporation today announced that Renesas Technology’s industry-leading SH-Mobile application processor will be incorporated into BenQ’s latest models of 2.5G multimedia GSM mobile phones. With the first launch of Z2 in April, followed by another model in June, both models will be available in Mainland China, Taiwan, Europe and other Asian areas. Mr. Dai Hirasawa, Chairman & CEO of Renesas Technology Taiwan Co., Ltd. said: “We are pleased to provide our SH-Mobile solution to BenQ, one of the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturers. With this successful collaboration and promising business relationship in the future, I believe we will bring mobile phones powered by SH-Mobile to market faster and further increase our share in the mobile phone market.”