Shares of KDDI Corp., Japan’s second- largest mobile-phone operator, rose 2.4 percent after the company said users are spending more on services such as high-speed access to the Internet and video clip services. KDDI yesterday said users spent an average of 36 percent more each month in the April to June period as they sent text messages, surfed the Internet and viewed video clips.
Tim Harrison’s speech was the highlight of Wireless Japan 2003 for many — an oasis of information in an otherwise dreary lineup of pat speeches by DoCoMo’s Tachikawa and KDDI’s Onodera. Harrison talked eloquently about the guiding principles that have let V-Live grow to 1.5 million, the lessons learned from Japan, and how their service is different from the domestically brilliant, and so far internationally dismal, performance of various i-modes.
TDK Corporation begins volume production of the industry’s first* 0603 type (0.6 mm x 0.3 mm) multilayer chip varistor this August. The new chip varistor is about one-fifth the volume and weight of previous products. In order to respond to the demand for smaller, lighter, and lower power consuming mobile devices including cell phones, PDAs, laptop computers, and digital cameras, semiconductor elements are being made with higher degrees of integration and to operate on lower voltages.
Matsushita Electric, best known for its Panasonic-brand electronics and communications products, and Picsel Technologies, a pioneering provider of embedded software, today announced that the two companies entered into a licensing agreement to embed Picsel Browser and Picsel File Viewer on Panasonic SD Memory Card products. Under the agreement, Panasonic will globally market the Picsel PoweredTM SD Memory Cards, which will greatly enhance the Internet Browsing and File Viewing capabilities of mobile information devices.
AT&T Wireless today announced agreements with Nortel Networks and Ericsson to deploy what is expected to be the first commercial W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple band Access) wireless network in North America. The W-CDMA network can support high speed VPN access, audio and video applications, as well as advanced location-based and m-Commerce features.
Wireless Watch Japan is back – with a new URL, a new Web site, new staff, anda new service model. We’re ready to go for a 2003 fast proving to be a breakout year for wireless in Japan. WWJ regulars will recall that our last email newsletter and video programwere posted around April 30. Since then, the site’s been in hibernation mode while we rebuilt the backend, upgraded servers, and thought long and hardabout how to place WWJ onto a sustainable, future-oriented footing. And Here We Are!
