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IC Mobile Payment Reaches Mainstream

WWJ Portable Reportable MP3 audio report
Of the 10 mn Japanese using some form of the FeliCa contactless IC payment system as of 1 April, 700,000 are already mobile-enabled, according to Tokyo’s bitWallet, the joint-venture set up to commercialize Sony’s FeliCa technology. In today’s WWJ Portable Reportable, we speak with Norihiko Fujita, a bitWallet manager working on extending the FeliCa-based “Edy” payment service into mobile platforms. After NTT DoCoMo launched their own-branded “i-mode FeliCa” service last summer, Vodafone and KDDI are playing catch-up in 2005, and they’d better hurry: with 20,000 merchants already accepting FeliCa-based payments, there’s money to be made from mainstream users. (“Edy” stands, somewhat hopefully, for “Euro, Dollar, Yen”).

MTV Japan Launches Exclusive Mobile Music Channel

MTV Japan Launches Exclusive Mobile Music Channel

Executives from MTV Networks were in Tokyo to launch their new Japan-exclusive mobile and online entertainment channel, Flux. The service will initially be available exclusively on KDDI through au EZWeb. Subscription fees are set at 315 yen per month. Scheduled to begin broadcasting on June 30th, Flux targets 13-34 year-olds with original Japanese video and animation productions and programming from the global MTV Networks library. Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants will splash down onto Flux as well – his first adventures in Japan outside Nick network here. Nickelodeon and MTV are part of the Viacom Inc. broadcasting empire.

Two locally produced animations already signed on are Lightman, described in a press release as “a superhero who battles against the forces of evil,” (no, you’re kidding? Against evil?) and “Hanamoski”, a series of clips “starring an elephant with a very long trunk”. That’s nice. Clips will be broadcast on mobile in 1-3 minute episodes, see the press release for more programming details.

KDDI Launching Star Wars Mobile Content for 3G Phones

KDDI Launching Star Wars Mobile Content for 3G Phones

The Force is with KDDI young WWJ Padowans. Japan may be one of the last countries on the planet to see the Revenge of the Sith film, not premiering here until July 9th, but KDDI has contracted where no other Japanese telecom has contracted before (I know, I know, it’s a Star Trek reference but cut me some slack), at least for 3G cell phones.

Starting June 9th, exclusive Star Wars content will be available to subscribers of KDDI’s EZChannel, EZBook and EZ Movie portals for au 3G CDMA 1X WIN cell phones. All six of the Star Wars films stories will be readable with EZBooks; over EZChannel, a talk-through guide on how to better understand this latest edition to the series; while EZMovie will run trailers as a quick fix for those fans who continue to be deprived of actually seeing the film. Star Wars music and Star Wars books will be available for real-world purchase on cell phones from auRecords and auBooks. More fun features include a downloadable Flash screen where Anakin becomes one with the user’s cell phone battery. His light saber flashes from blue to red as your battery power levels sink into the danger zone.

Vodafone K.K. Sponsors Contest for Student Research using Mobile Phones

Vodafone K.K. announced today that for the third time it will sponsor Vodafone Mobile Eco School 2005, a contest where high school students use mobile handsets for scientific research purposes. Vodafone Mobile Eco School is a Vodafone K.K.-sponsored programme that lets students freely conduct research on ecology, science and environment themes with the latest Vodafone K.K. handsets (*Vodafone K.K. plans to lend Vodafone 902T handsets for research purposes. Communications made for research purposes will not be charged.) The Grand Prix team will receive a prize of 200,000 yen and a field trip to the United Kingdom. The field trip is scheduled to include exchange with U.K. high school students and other cultural activities. Applications for 3rd Vodafone Mobile Eco School to be accepted from 1 June.

Vodafone K.K. to Offer 3G W-CDMA Roaming in South Korea

Vodafone K.K. announced today that starting 7 June 2005 it will offer roaming services on SK Telecom Co., Ltd.’s W-CDMA network for its 3G customers, making it possible for them to use in South Korea the handsets that they normally use at home. The agreement marks the first time for an operator in Japan to offer roaming in South Korea on a W-CDMA network. Vodafone K.K.’s Global Roaming Service lets customers use Vodafone K.K. 3G handsets in countries and regions abroad in addition to Japan. Previously, customers traveling to South Korea had to rent dedicated CDMA handsets to roam on local CDMA networks. With the opening of W-CDMA networks in South Korea, however, it is now possible for customers using Vodafone K.K. 3G handsets to take their handsets for use in South Korea, a top-ranking travel destination for Japan residents with over 2.4 million travelers visiting in 2004.

Digital TV Cell Phone Test Drive

Digital TV Cell Phone Test DriveDigital terrestrial broadcasting for mobile phones is scheduled to begin in Japan by spring 2006 and both Vodafone and KDDI had demonstration models up and running on the first day of the NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratories open house yesterday. An annual event open to the public, this year’s show focused once again on digital TV broadcasting with three floors of cameras, servers, receivers and handheld devices. Mobile receivers drew packed crowds herded into Disneyland-style long lines waiting their turn to handle an 801SH Vodafone/Sharp CDMA Qualcomm handset. No bigger than a conventional cell phone, the 801SH has a hybrid split-screen displaying images on the upper half with the bottom reserved for scrolling data feeds and Web links to programming, etc. Exclusive from Wireless Watch Japan!