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.
Today we look at some of the highlights from NTT DoCoMo’s 1 June 2004 press conference announcing the release of three new 3G cellphone each of which includes new functionality not seen before in the Japan market. This press event is typical for a new handset announcement; all three of Japan’s major cellcos (NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Vodafone) conduct similar sessions for their new model releases. Today’s models all make the first FOMA handsets released back in late 2001 look fatter, clunkier, and more awful than ever. The battery life issues have been solved, and these sleek clam-shell beauties are more sophisticated than ever before.
Full Program Run-time 5:04, also available in Real Player and Quick-Time formats.
Originally published as a guest column in Fierce Wireless, 9 June – Ed.
If 2001-2003 has been Phase 1 of Japan’s 3G era (all three major carriers launched W-CDMA or CDMA 2000 networks in this period), then 2004 is definitely shaping up to be Phase 2 — and the difference is that now Japan 3G is moving overseas. The assault is being led in part by Japan’s keitai makers who, under NTT DoCoMo’s lash, have invested heavily in sophisticated new terminals and are now looking to markets further afield in order to generate additional ROI.
Barefoot Software Asia Limited (BSAL) is pleased to announce the launch Australian Swimsuit Edition-Free (ASE), via the Barefoot Software website for download. ASE is a Cardmate application which is being launched for Free as a promotional application to end users who have a Symbian 60 supported device.
KDDI R&D Laboratories have jointly developed a mobile-phone terminal that receives digital terrestrial TV broadcasts with interactive services in conjunction with NHK Science and Technical Research Labs. The two companies are the first in Japan to develop such a product in advance of digital TV broadcasting aimed at mobile terminals, which is due to commence in fiscal 2005. We visited NHK’s open house for a peek at the prototype, a modified Hitachi W11H 3G handset. The demonstration allowed users to watch a newscast and scroll through a menu of relevant links to view different segments, like weather forecasts or sports highlights. Full Program Run-time 4:26, also available in Real Player and QT formats.
I received a query from a long-time, astute, tech industry watcher last week after sending out the WWJ newsletter. I say “astute” not only because he’s a long-time WWJ fan, but also because he works as a high-level consultant in several fields, including auto electronics, software development, and marketing. His query focused on my comments that Vodafone’s 3G subscriber base was still tiny — with 151,400 compared to 3.58 mn and 13.99 mn at DoCoMo and KDDI, respectively, as of April 30. My numbers came direct from the Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA) website, and he asked, somewhat skeptically, if these numbers were correct. I replied that they were and said that…
