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News of Monday, September 05, 2005
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DoCoMo sets up $100 mln U.S. venture fund
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(9/5/2005) NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile operator, on Monday said it would set up a $100 million venture fund in the United States to invest in start-up companies that develop advanced mobile communication technologies. The company said it planned to take stakes mainly in U.S. ventures as it attempts to shorten its own development cycle, lower its research and development costs and widen its opportunities. Since the company’s failed investments in overseas operators like AT&T; Wireless Services Inc. and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd’s British mobile business over the last several years, DoCoMo has preferred to make smaller investments in venture companies that develop related mobile technologies. DoCoMo said its new subsidiary, DoCoMo Capital Inc., would be based in San Jose, California, and begin operating by July 1. (Reuters)
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DOCOMO News
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News of Friday, June 03, 2005
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Japan Opens Mobile Phone Market to New Companies
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(6/3/2005) Japan will allocate two new frequencies for mobile phone services, allowing up to three more companies into a market now dominated by NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp. The move paves the way for competition in the market for the first time in 12 years. The 1.7 gigahertz and 2.0 gigahertz frequencies, now used for public services, will be opened up to private companies, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said today on its Web site. It didn’t name potential service providers. Softbank Corp. and eAccess Ltd., providers of high-speed Web services, are among companies that have started trial networks to compete against DoCoMo, KDDI and Vodafone K.K. Shares of the companies gained yesterday after the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported that Japan had decided to give priority to new service providers when granting mobile phone licenses this year. (Bloomberg)
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3G News
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MTV to launch videos by mobile phone only in Japan
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(6/3/2005) MTV said it will begin launching short music and animation videos via mobile phones in Japan, saying the tech-savvy country would be a test on whether telecoms can be a new market for the music channel. The service, to be called Flux, will begin June 30 by subscriptions on handsets using KDDI, Japan’s second-biggest mobile operator. Flux, which will give users both mobile and Internet accounts, will carry exclusive content such as short clips from Japanese superstar singer Hikaru Utada, who has sold more than 37 million albums and last year made her US debut. "Japan has such a strong leadership in mobiles, such a vibrant consumer culture," said William Roedy, vice chairman of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom, and president of MTV Networks International. "It’s amazing because you can launch here a new product and service and not only have impact in Japan but also influence the entire world," Roedy told a news conference. Japan has been a leader in embracing third-generation telephones, which offers advanced services such as high-speed Internet and online banking by handset. MTV said it was also looking elsewhere in Asia for growth. "Asia is a driver of our digital strategy. Markets such as Japan but also Korea and China are important centers for learning and product development," Roedy said. Tony Elison, senior vice president for digital media at Viacom International Japan, said the service would begin at a time that Japanese cultural exports were expanding. "We decided to launch the new business in Japan whose popular culture has global influence. And Japan has leadership in the digital media industry in the world," Elison said. (AFP)
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GENERAL News
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News of Thursday, June 02, 2005
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Cellphones can be used as fixed-line phones at home: NTT DoCoMo
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Summary
(6/2/2005) NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile phone service provider, will enable subscribers to use their handsets as fixed-line phones at home, President Masao Nakamura said Tuesday. The new service, expected to begin next year, will allow subscribers to combine their fixed-line and mobile phone numbers. Usage of cellphones at home will be charged at the same rates as fixed-line phones, which are cheaper than those for cellphones. While a number of cellphone operators have started similar services for corporate subscribers, NTT DoCoMo will be the first to offer the service for home use. With the new service, people can use their handsets as fixed-line phones in their houses and as cellphones outside, Nakamura said. KDDI Corp., NTT DoCoMo’s principal rival, is also set to begin a home-use service. The new service is made possible by combining a fixed-line service with a wireless local area network, or LAN, communications system. (Kyodo)
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News of Wednesday, June 01, 2005
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Another Record Year Thanks To Japanese Mobile Music
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(6/1/2005) For the second year in a row, JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers) has reported a record amount of royalty fees collected thanks to the sale of ringtones and mobile music. “The total amount of income came to JPY 110.8 billion (US$1.03 billion), slightly more than the previous record of JPY 109.4 billion (US$1.01 billion) set for fiscal 2003.”
While CD sales fell by 5.3% to JPY 26.8 billion (US$248 million), interactive distribution (including all online services, ringtones, chaku-uta, etc) rose by 12.7% to JPY 9.27 billion (US$85.8 million), more than making up for the shortfall in CD sales. Which points to the fact that the music industry, which is still crying catastrophe and blaming falling CD sales on p2p piracy, should be including ringtones in the sale of music. In the west they haven’t done this, claiming global music sales fell in 2004 by excluding ringtones from the calculations.
(Moconews)
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MTV to launch videos by mobile phone only in Japan |
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Summary (AFP)
MTV said it will begin launching short music and animation videos via mobile phones in Japan, saying the tech-savvy country would be a test on whether telecoms can be a new market for the music channel. The service, to be called Flux, will begin June 30 b... |
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Japan Mobile Makers Face Challenges at Home, Abroad |
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Summary (Reurers)
Not only have Japanese mobile phone makers’ global ambitions been dashed, but they may soon face challenges at home as foreign firms compete with cutting-edge camera phones, mobile Web access and 3G handsets. Japanese makers had long dreamed of head... |
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KDDI Launches au Mobile Ez-Book Portal |
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Summary (WWJ)
Online bookstores are nothing new but KDDI has wrapped up a mobile reading solution that transforms cell phones into personal book-mobiles. Starting 21 April, EZ Book Land for au WIN CDMA 1X cell phones brings bestsellers, business titles, movie novelizat... |
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