Vodafone
Vodafone

Vodafone

Test Drive on Sharp's J-SH53 Handset

Test Drive on Sharp's J-SH53 HandsetTake a 2 hour trip to Tokyo – compressed into a 3 minute time lapse – and check out Vodafone’s answer to the 505i series. Boasting a 256k capable java appli that makes the ’53 a perfect gaming device, its little wonder that companies like Namco and Taito have lined up some great content for the early adopters. Perhaps most impressive was how clean the 3D Polygon graphics look on that QVGA screen, pardon us for almost forgetting this unit was also the first mega-pixel camera phone on the market to boot. Its not all just games either, a couple of sexy voice recognition functions are on tap in this demo as well, so buckle up for a great ride..!! Full Program Run-time 19:57

WPC Expo 2003: 1st FOMA Intl. Video Call – DoCoMo Finally in the Drivers Seat?

WWJ was busy shooting video at Makahari Messe in Chiba last week, think telematics, wristphones and international FOMA videoconferencing. But enough teasing: The news we didn’t see elsewhere about the show was that DoCoMo, is – finally – taking telematics seriously, as we found in a quick interview with Hidenori Obara of DoCoMo’s ITS Business Promotion Office. Obara admitted that DoCoMo is “behind” KDDI, with the latter pushing all sorts of mobile-WLAN technologies to potentially hook into a slab of Japan’s 12.3 million in-auto car navigation (car nabi) systems. In a separate development, we heard that Seiko is adding a color screen, but not a camera function, on its Wristomo PHS phone. Unsurprisingly, they are not planning to mount a CCD chip because it’ll make the wearers’ wrist limp from the extra weight, and the extra battery power needed might be another issue. Tune in next week and see it all for yourself when we show FOMA’s first international video call, chat with DoCoMo’s Mariko Hanaoka, and get a peek at Panasonic’s next killer app. for camera phones everywhere!!

The Mobile Phone Number Portability Fairy Cometh

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan’s equivalent of The Financial Times or The Wall Street Journal, reported on Sunday September 7 that Japan will introduce number portability to keitai from 2005. If you’re not familiar with this system, it allows you tokeep your cell phone number when you switch between carriers and thus removes one of the significant barriers to jumping ship and signing up with a rival provider. Now call me a cynic if you like, but doesn’t it seem a little too convenient that this system is being introduced just as it is becoming difficult to sign up new subscribers?

DoCoMo Press Conference: Exclusive Access

DoCoMo Press Conference: Exclusive AccessOn Sept. 4th WWJ attended the Otemachi Corporate News Room for a press conference hosted by DoCoMo President and CEO Dr. Keiji Tachikawa. He covered a wide range of topics including; a new carry-over billing plan and upgraded service offerings for FOMA, brisk sales – 2.7 million units – of the recently launched 505 series handsets and the new ‘Hearty Style’ campaign package for handicapped users. He also took questions regarding their current and upcoming 3G activities in China and Taiwan, and offered his personal thoughts on the differing strategies between DoCoMo and Vodafone. If you need the full-skinny, in English, we’re the only game in town! Full Program Run-time 21:19

Vodafone could snub Nokia for 3G

In an effective snub to top handset maker Nokia, the Financial Times reported that Vodafone was negotiating exclusive deals with Japan’s Sanyo and Samsung of South Korea for its new range of upgraded Vodafone Live! multimedia phones. ‘Vodafone is trialling a number of handsets to support its 3G service, which will be available before March 2004,’ the group stated. ‘Vodafone cannot confirm at this stage which manufacturers will be exclusive providers for Vodafone’s 3G services.’

Mobile Kaizen and Why Japan Still Matters

Conventional wisdom teaches that Japan’s mobile industry is at least 18 months in front of Europe (and years ahead of the US). That truism is no more, however, as Europe’s cellular carriers, handset makers, and wireless Internet content providers have sweated blood to catch up – and catch up they have indeed. Daniel Scuka is in Germany this fall where he’s helping WWJpartner Mobile Economy conduct a series of seminarsentitled “Mobile Kaizen in Japan” examining how Japan’s mobileindustry maintains its lead through the continuous roll-out of improvementsin all aspects of the wireless Internet.