TOKYO-Amid harsh competition among mobile carriers, Japanese cellular handsets have been evolving rapidly. Most handsets currently used are light, tiny, fashionable and smart. Internet-ready capabilities and color screens are almost standard functions.
NTT DoCoMo is selling only i-mode-enabled handsets, all J-Phone’s handsets have color screens and Japanese carriers are battling to offer new, value-added services.
NTT DoCoMo last January launched Java-based services under the service name iAppli. Based on Java, a programming language developed by Sun Microsystems, NTT DoCoMo has been providing services that allow users to download small applications, called applets, onto their handsets. Users can easily download and modify the software.
As of 11 June, five manufacturers-Matsushita Communications Industrial, Fujitsu, NEC, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric-had launched iAppli-enabled handsets known as the 503 Series. The number of iAppli sites has mushroomed from an initial 38 to 4,450 as of 12 June, with iAppli content varying greatly.
Kabu.com, an online brokerage house, provides the latest stock charts for iAppli users through a “robot agent” that gathers information for the user. Mitsui & Company and Increment P, a map data firm, offer map data with a scrolling function. Weather News, the largest weather information firm in Japan, provides wake-up services based on each morning’s weather. On a rainy day, for instance, the handset wakes up the user earlier than the normal time because it generally takes longer to commute on a rainy day.
Although two iAppli-enabled handsets, one manufactured by Matsushita and one by Sony, have been recalled due to defects in their software, the number of iAppli users has been rapidly expanding. According to NTT DoCoMo, 3.43 million customers had iAppli handsets as of 12 June.
Japanese carriers KDDI and J-Phone, the mobile business unit of Japan Telecom, planned to launch their Java-based services in June.
Technical differences
NTT DoCoMo is employing the original Java profile-specifications that define an application programming interface (API) for each mobile device-called i-mode-based Java or DoJa (DoCoMo Java). Both KDDI and J-Phone will employ Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP), a profile for cellular phones developed by Sun Microsystems as an API. Both carriers also will employ JBlend, a middleware developed by Aplix.
Another remarkable difference between these two carriers’ Java services and NTT DoCoMo’s service is capacity to download software. NTT DoCoMo’s iAppli limits the software capacity to 10 kilobits considering strictly limited handset circumstances, but KDDI’s Java phone will have 50 kilobits of capacity and J-Phone’s handset will have 30 kilobits. The excess capacity is expected to give content developers more freedom to develop innovative services.
By sharing the same API and middleware, KDDI and J-Phone are targeting to gain more users and more content than DoCoMo. On the other hand, each firm will differentiate its service using an original extension API.
J-Phone will employ J-Phone Specific Class Libraries (JSCL), which will offer a variety of advanced functions. According to Arata Kurihara, a spokesman for J-Phone East, the JSCL will provide functions that allow users to control Java applications in their handsets, a window layout manager function that will let users divide the screen, Japanese-language display functions, and sound mixing functions. But the most remarkable feature of J-Phone’s Java service is its three-dimensional (3D) polygon images service, which J-Phone developed with Bandai Networks. According to Kyoichiro Kori, chief operating officer (COO) of J-Phone East, the function will give truly natural motion to 3D images on screens.
Sharp, a leading consumer electronics manufacturer, will initially provide a Java-enabled terminal for J-Phone. By the end of this year, three or four more handsets are going to be released.
J-Phone plans to offer 30 content sites for its Java services, about half of which use the 3D polygon technology. The firm said it is going to increase the amount of content in the future.
KDDI will employ Jumon, an extended API developed by Omron, an automated control equipment vendor. The most remarkable feature of KDDI’s Java service is its large 50-kilobit software capacity, which will let content providers develop attractive content with images and/or sound. KDDI will also provide a mobile agent service that will allow a handset user to send a program to his counterpart’s handset and then receive the result of the program execution. For example, a user could forward his availability for a meeting, and the agent would collect the counterpart’s availability and set a date.
Besides Java services, KDDI plans to launch a service in the fourth quarter that will let KDDI’s handset users browse NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode sites. It is speculated that KDDI has failed to defeat giant NTT DoCoMo because the amount of content provided by KDDI’s EZ Web service is limited compared with NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode service. KDDI is expecting the number of EZ Web users to shoot up once they can browse the abundant i-mode content.
