Vodafone
Vodafone

Vodafone

SoftBank Mobile Reports Modest MNP Success

Japan’s mobile carriers aren’t in turmoil — not so far, anyway. But Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has brought the nearest thing yet to a consumer-facing market meltdown, and the No. 1 Agent of Change is undoubtedly Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Mobile.

The media, industry analysts and Japan Wireless Watchers everywhere have been hit with two sets of numbers in the past fortnight: the initial, media-and-analysts-only post-MNP subscriber churn numbers released on 31 October (one week after MNP start) by NTT DoCoMo and KDDI (SoftBank Mobile was silent), followed by the regular monthly release of overall subscriber numbers issued on 8 November by the TCA Telecommunications Carriers Association; keep in mind that the TCA release is based on self-reporting from the carriers).

Gemini Launches Mobile Community Platform

Gemini Mobile Technologies has announced a new software platform to power mobile communities. The Gemini platform, called eXplo, is the foundation of a new 3D interface from SoftBank Mobile Corporation in Japan, named S! TOWN. SoftBank Mobile’s new S! Town-enabled phones are available today throughout Japan on selected Sharp and Toshiba phone models. Gemini expects to announce new carriers and content providers for eXplo in the coming months.

Brad Pitt Selling for SoftBank

Building on SoftBank’s TV commercial branding campaign – the company retained Cameron Diaz for a series of spots to coincide with the official patchover from Vodafone in early October – we notice that Brad Pitt has signed-on for round two. Mr. Pitt does not have any lines, the 15sec. TVCM simply blasts ‘Walk This Way’ by Aerosmith as he is seen wandering through what appears to be a crowded street market in Mumbai.

SoftBank Mobile Rolls New Handsets

SoftBank Mobile have just issued a press release [.PDF in Japanese] announcing that four of their recently unveiled handsets – the 910T, 810SH, 811SH and 705P – will commence sales nationwide on Saturday, 7 October. The update has not been posted on their new website as of this moment, however we do look forward to seeing them come up to speed there as the old vodafone.jp site now resolves to softbankmobile.co.jp.

SoftBank Announces 5-Megapixel Cameraphone

SoftBank Mobile announced yesterday it will begin sales of the Sharp 910SH [ .jpg ] 5-megapixel cameraphone in October. According to the specifications, the new model touts a 2.4-inch VGA view finder with blurring correction and a multi-point auto-focus system. Also noted, it has a 3-speed optical zoom feature, bluetooth and QR barcode reader along with face-recognition capability for its embedded FeliCa osaifu ketai (wallet-phone) function.

SoftBank Mobile Comes Out Swinging

WWJ Editors, 28 September 2006
SoftBank Mobile Comes Out Swinging by Mobikyo KKThe long summer silence from SoftBank on the rebranding of Vodafone K.K. to SoftBank Mobile is over with no less than 12 press releases issued today in advance of the official launch on 1 October. The company has introduced 13 new handsets, a variety of updated service offerings and new personnel. As mobile number portability (MNP) arrives on 24 October, and with strong competition from market leader NTT DoCoMo and No. 2 carrier KDDI, the struggling former Vodafone franchise clearly needed to get their house in order.

Some little-known news: Industry insiders here were surprised to learn in late August that the long-time head of Qualcomm Japan, Ted Matsumoto, had moved over to SoftBank taking on the title of CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) for Masayoshi Son’s newly minted celco. The official announcement was made during a wide ranging press conference that also introduced Cameron Diaz as the star attraction for their new advertising campaign that planned to blitz TV and outdoor ads over the coming weeks.

On the network front, they have announced that ‘Super 3G’ (HSDPA), with availability limited to the greater Tokyo area, will start in October to service their new HTC – X01HT smartphone. This Windows Mobile-enabled unit will default to regular W-CDMA (or GSM/GPRS overseas) in areas without high-speed coverage. The company also announced new applications and services ranging from the widely expected Yahoo Mobile Search integration, “Hot Talk” instant messenger, a “3D Town” event guide map, and – finally – a “Live Monitor” scrolling text push service.