Vodafone
Vodafone

Vodafone

Gaming Set to Repeat Mobile Music Success

Mobile Music Hot but Mobile Games will Blaze! by Mobikyo KKAs mobile music settles into a steady mainstream growth cycle, with now-well-established hardware and content offerings, many industry watchers are looking towards the Next Big Thing. We think they need look no further than portable gaming, which is set to take mobile by storm. All the ingredients for mobile gaming success are in place: key platforms, faster 3G networks, affordable and flat-rate data, and a keen, heavy using youth demographic that continues to display a never-ending quest for hardware upgrades. Take a look around the streets of Tokyo, and the conclusion is unmissable: gaming for mobile devices is set for impressive growth in the next few years.

To date, the limiting factor has been the actual devices, as it was at one stage with music. The Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, much like Apple’s iPod, have proven to be early major hits as stand-alone units, having sufficient onboard CPU and memory capabilities to run some intensive games. In view of the success of porting the well-known ‘Walkman‘ onto mobile phones, can it be that long before we see the PSP label on a prototype cell phone from Sony Ericsson?

The photo tells it all. Taken recently by WWJ digital media director Lawrence Cosh-Ishii in suburban Tokyo, it shows a group of mid-teen boys waiting for a train at Shimo-Kitazawa station; all are playing with a PSP, blissfully ignorant of the huge poster for KDDI/au’s new music campaign. Note also that the recent BREW 2006 Conference issued a release with the news that Qualcomm and Microsoft will port MS ‘Live Anywhere’ for X-Box 360 gaming onto BREW-enabled mobile handsets. If you don’t think these tech giants have got it right, just watch what the kids are doing!

NTT DoCoMo finally needs Microsoft

One of WWJ’s long-time favorite mobile & tech media sites, The Register.co.uk, posted an item last week that stopped us short: “DoCoMo deal opens i-Mode world to Windows Media.”

The point that caught us was right in the opening graf (see if it grabs you too):

“Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo, a long standing Microsoft partner in the world of mobile entertainment, is to port Windows Media DRM (digital rights management) to its 3G handsets, allowing for content to be moved between phones and PCs, and bypassing the Open Mobile Alliance DRM.”

Like us, you probably didn’t need the red ink to highlight this article’s boggling assertion that NTT DoCoMo is a “long standing” Microsoft partner; while the two tech giants may not exactly hate each other, there’s been been little love lost as Microsoft has failed at every step of i-mode’s growth to establish any significant…

Vodafone K.K. Financial Results for Fiscal 2005

Vodafone K.K. has just announced its results for fiscal 2005 (the year ended at 31 March 2006). Positive net customer additions of 169,200 were recorded in the period due to an expanded lineup of handsets well-suited to the Japanese market, improved network coverage, and the launch of attractive price plans. Net customer additions in the period represented an increase of 79,900 compared to 89,300 in the previous fiscal year and achievement of the turnaround plan announced at the beginning of the period. Consolidated operating revenues declined slightly to 1,467.6 billion yen and consolidated ordinary income declined by 51.5% to 74.4 billion yen. Consolidated net profit was 49.5 billion due to an extraordinary profit of 20.0 billion yen.

Disney Branded Mobile Comics and Games

A pair of press releases just came through from Vodafone K.K. with news that WDIG will be rolling out comics and games on Vodafone live! starting June 1, 2006. Disney Mobile Comics will be Disney’s first-ever digital comic content for mobile phones, and will consist of three types of mobile comics for customers to enjoy. Also announced, Disney’s first Bluetooth multiplayer 3D racing game. The Cars 3D V-appli will feature characters from Disney/Pixar’s latest movie Cars, which is scheduled for release in Japan on July 1. Cars 3D is said to be the first game based on a Disney/Pixar movie to appear ahead of film release.

Panasonic to Supply Handsets to KDDI

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. revealed that it plans to supply mobile phones to wireless operator KDDI Corp., adding a second customer for its handset business in Japan. The maker of Panasonic products currently supplies cellphones in Japan to NTT DoCoMo Inc., the country’s top mobile operator, but does not do business with second-ranked KDDI and third-largest Vodafone K.K., a unit of Softbank Corp.

Tokyo's amazing week: UK/Jpn JV, 'SoftBank Mobile' and MNP

Watching the business of wireless in Japan just keeps getting better!

Last week brought a slew of new announcements, including news of the JPY11 bn SoftBank/Vodafone joint venture, confirmation that the company formerly known as Vodafone KK will henceforth be known as ‘SoftBank Mobile’ and details on the long-awaited MNP (mobile number portability) implementation. Subscribers can access WWJ’s insight on the first two in today’s Viewpoint (here), but read on below for our take on MNP — possibly the biggest revolution in Japan mobile since i-mode itself.

First, a little history.

Until now, the Big Three cellular carriers (DoCoMo, KDDI/au and Vodafone), as well as the smaller PHS carriers (Willcom, Astel, etc.), have run their networks as independent — and highly competitive — fiefdoms. There has been nothing like number portability or, for that matter, portability of any other service/feature. If you switched carriers, you lost your number…