Vodafone’s answer to 3.5G and NTT DoCoMo’s HSDPA will be trailed here later this year. Vodafone will be conducting fast low-latency access with seamless handoff Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (Flash OFDM) trials in the second half of the year in Tokyo that will test the ability to run 3Mbps wireless data networks.
It’s been a year or so, but finally Vodafone K.K. is attempting an aggressive rollout of impressive (albeit) 2/2.5G handset terminals clearly aimed at fun– and the young. Over the next couple of months the company is adding 5 terminals [.pdf here], including the new V602 from Sharp and V601 from Toshiba that have mulitimedia features even more impressive than those aboard DoCoMo 900i series, as well as an improved radio phone from Sanyo and a clearer TV picture from Sharp. Better still, last week’s news that Vodafone has decided to adopt a FeliCa compatible removable solution for contactless payments shows the company is definitely on board with promoting the mobile phone away from a communications/ game device into become a viable e-commerce tool not only here in Japan, but potentially accross the vast Vodafone empire.
In a report released April 6, Tokyo-based Ipse Marketing gave the results of a survey conducted in January 2004 on the degree of usage of advanced phone features. The report said that users of mobile phones are “more adept at utilizing various functions in a mobile phone than they were a year ago,” and specifically highlighted Java application programs, movies, video, and the use of an external memory card as new features that the average i-moder in the street is increasingly using…
We’re not too sure about NTT DoCoMo’s motivation for fielding the first three models of the new 506i-series second-gen cellys. Sure, Big D have got to stay in front of the public eye with new models, new colours, etc. Japan’s consumer terminal market is nothing if not intensely competitive and trying to sell six-month old cell phones — which have often already lost 50% of their value at retail — is like, Oh, Soooo six-months old… Missing a slot in the handset upgrade cycle can be costly, as No. 3 competitior Vodafone has found to their regret. Full Program Run-time 14:32
Vodafone K.K. announced it has jointly developed a contactless interface prototype mobile handset with Sharp Corporation that is compatible with smart card-embedded flash memory cards. This prototype’s contactless communication is made possible by inserting a smart card-embedded flash memory card into the handset’s memory card slot.
Vodafone has chosen South Korea’s Samsung to provide its first 3G phone for their kickstart launch of services in Germany and Portugal, but hopes to expand its range over the coming months to include handsets from Sony Ericsson. People close to the operator said Vodafone was also in discussions with LG of Korea and Japan’s Sanyo to purchase additional phones, highlighting Asian manufacturers’ lead in 3G technology. However, Finland’s Nokia is also developing a phone for Vodafone.
