Tokyo’s best and brightest mobilistas gathered for Mobile Monday Tokyo in October, and WWJ was shooting! MoMo is a monthly networking event designed to… well, to get everyone together! What a blast! Folks were there from carriers, handset makers, technology vendors, application developers, and content providers on both the foreign and Japanese side. We spoke with knowledgeable insiders on mobile games, music, and video, and today’s episode brings you the highlights.
QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, today announced that a number of compelling BREW-based wireless applications currently available via operators with CDMA2000® 1X services, can now be downloaded live and run on the BenQ S80 WCDMA (UMTS)/GSM/GPRS dual mode handset. The applications are being downloaded live over a WCDMA network, and shown on this BREW-enabled WCDMA device to operators throughout the Asia-Pacific region, at 3G World Congress, November 15-19 in Hong Kong. This functionality validates the BREW solution’s flexibility and value for the entire mobile marketplace value chain, including publishers and developers, handset manufacturers and operators in the emerging WCDMA market. The compelling selection of applications are running on handsets built upon QUALCOMM’s MSM6250™ Mobile Station Modem™ (MSM™) chipset providing developers with a feature-rich, multimedia environment for their innovative content.
DoCoMo have just launched their next generation FOMA handsets at a splashy event at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel — complete with bikini-clad beauties, big-name stars, and a sound and light show that blasted their five new 901i handsets into the spotlight. The D901i, F901iC, N901iC, P901i, and SH901iC models all come equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, stereo speakers, and enhanced audio and video for even more multi-slacking fun. In a ‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!’ press event move, DoCoMo announced that only the SH901iC will be ready for nationwide release on 26 November. Other handsets will ‘follow’ with no specific release dates given. DoCoMo says sales of FOMA cellys stand at 7.3 million. Sales of i-mode-compatible FeliCa e-wallet handsets stand at 600,000 units; infrared signal-compatible handsets, 27.2 million, and bar-code reader terminals, 14 million. Watch our video report here.
KDDI Corp., a leading CDMA2000 mobile operator in Japan, has deployed Starent Networks’ high-performance core network platform for its 1xEV-DO network at 800 Mhz. The Starent ST16 Intelligent Mobile Gateway is providing high-speed data services to KDDI’s subscribers through its CDMA 1X WIN broadband service. KDDI has the largest CDMA network in Japan with more than 18 million subscribers and has the most 3G subscribers in the country with over 16.1 million. The Japanese mobile communications market has long been one of the largest and most progressive, with a projected $13.4 billion in data revenue for 2004. This makes it the world’s largest market with two to three times the revenue of other leading countries according to analyst firm Ovum.
InterVideo, Inc., a pioneer in advancing DVD and MPEG-multimedia software technology, announced today that its Mobile Player and Mobile Studio will support major cellular phone operating systems (OSs) on Texas Instruments Incorporated’s (TI’s) OMAP(TM) processors, including Symbian OS(TM), Windows Mobile(TM), and Linux(R). InterVideo will demonstrate its technology on both TI processor lines on handsets at the TI booth during the 3G World Congress and Exhibition, which is being held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, November 16-17, 2004.
DoCoMo announced today the N900iL [WWJ video here], a dual-network WLAN/3G FOMA handset. The phone will be released on 16 November 2004. The N900iL is specifically designed to support DoCoMo’s exclusive PASSAGE DUPLE system for dual-network operation as both a standard FOMA phone and a VoIP mobile phone over a corporate user’s internal wireless LAN.
