w-cdma

Vodafone Unveils First TV/ Radio Mobile Phone

April 7, 2004 September 30, 2023

Vodafone strikes back! Those of you who have read this week’s Viewpoint will know that Toshiba is running silent and deep on its digital TV tuner mobile phones…but meantime they’ve come up with Japan’s first TV/ Radio phone for…Vodafone! Wow! The V401T beats NEC’s groundbreaking V601N, Japan’s first TV mobile phone, in several important areas. First; the 2.2 inch screen is upgraded to QVGA; second, the V401T is also capable of 12 minutes of program recording time; and third of course, there is the radio…They’ve actually gone and done it. Cool!!!… And now the caveats…

DoCoMo Partially Denies Hutchinson 3UK Pullout

March 30, 2004 September 30, 2023

NTT DoCoMo has denied media reports here that it is pulling out its stake in Hutchinson 3G UK Holdings Ltd. after Hutchinson failed to roll out i-mode. In a statement today, DoCoMo said it “has made no decision about ending its investment in Hutchison 3G UK Holdings Limited,” but stopped short of fully denying local reports that it was pulling the plug on its July 2000-acquired 20% interest in Hutchison 3GUK for about 186 billion yen, the book value of which has withered to under 40 billion yen as the joint venture struggled to launch its 3G service.

Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Forge 3G Handset Alliance

March 24, 2004 September 30, 2023

Here’s one for the books: Symbian OS proponent Fujitsu and Mitsubishi (which makes decent handsets for the domestic market but is unknown outside of Japan) have announced that they are getting together to develop new FOMA handsets. The press release today appears to be dressed up in terms of Fujitsu offering its expertise to Mitsubishi with Symbian, but it also hints that the two will combine on hardware development too. Given the fact that Fujitsu is a leading proponent of Symbian, and that DoCoMo president Keiji Tachikawa hinted that Symbian will be the OS of choice, the announcement looks as if Mitsubishi has figured the lay of the land and jumped on the bandwagon.

DoCoMo Far EasTone 3G Taiwan Launch

March 12, 2004 September 30, 2023

DoCoMo is pushing its blend of W-CDMA into Taiwan with Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., according to a press release today, with Big-D tightening up EasTone’s network from next week to September this year.

Vodafone K.K. Offers Global Mail, Japan's First International MMS Service

March 12, 2004 September 30, 2023

Vodafone K.K. announced that from March 18 it will offer Global Mail, a new service that enables customers to exchange multimedia messages (MMS) such as Sha-mail and Movie Sha-mail with overseas subscribers who have compatible handsets on participating networks.

DoCoMo's Paradigm: Flat Rate Forces Shift

March 4, 2004 October 28, 2023

DoCoMo's Paradigm: Flat Rate Forces Shift Last Friday’s NTT DoCoMo press briefing was an eye-opener as President Keichi Tachikawa hinted at the tectonic changes reshaping Japan’s mobile data market. After reviewing the company’s stance on US W-CDMA launch after the AT&T Wireless sale, he offered some insight into the giant carrier’s plans for dealing with the the flat-rate data pricing “paradigm shift” instituted, he alleged, “too early” by an unnamed player (which would be arch rival KDDI). Finishing after just 10 minutes, Tachikawa’s comments were brief, but the ensuing half hour of Q&A with the press offered a golden opportunity to quiz the prez on these and other issues—including e-commerce, 3G subscriber numbers, and FOMA handsets. If you want to know what Japan’s #1 mobile operator is thinking, don’t miss this program. Program Run-time 20:17