TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo plans to triple the data transmission speed (for downlinks) of i-mode service from current 9.6 kbps to 28.8 kbps in the spring of 2002, NTT DoCoMo announced on 11 September. At the same time, it will increase the memory capacity for iAppli...
Japan's second-largest telecom company, KDDI Corp., has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as an adviser on the possible sale of the company's wireless unit Tu-ka, according to The Wall Street Journal.The newspaper said Goldman Sachs has distributed financial details of Tu-ka to possible purchasers,...
TOKYO—KDDI Corp. and five other firms will jointly perform Japan's largest field test for mobile commerce in November. Unlike other conventional mobile commerce services, their system will provide settlement services via a virtual bank account. These firms are planning to launch commercial service in...
TOKYO-Barely two weeks after it recalled 560,000 Sony mobile phones, Japanese carrier KDDI Corp. announced another recall of 52,100 cell phones because of software glitches. The phones were made by Casio Computer Co. Ltd., Kyocera Corp., Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., Toshiba Corp. and Sony....
As Sony Corp. choreographs its dance steps for the awaited 3G stage, cell phones continue to inflict muscle spasms.The Japanese electronics giant dampened market confidence in its abilities as a phone maker when one of its customers, KDDI Corp., a major Japanese carrier, announced...
TOKYO-Sony Corp. said the impact from recalling a total of 1.1 million defective mobile handsets would reach $95.2 million. For the past couple of months, Sony has been forced to recall three types of mobile handsets.On July 4, Sony announced it would recall 560,000...
Expand coverage. Reduce interference. Increase capacity. Enable higher bandwidth.These are the four corners of Conductus Inc.'s philosophy in rolling out its ClearSite solutions for first-, second- and next-generation air-interface standards.To bring these lofty dreams to fruition, the company has produced the ClearSite 2100 systems...
In technology as in life, the last protocol on stage is the hero. While time will serve as jury in due course, for now the CDMA operators and manufacturers seem to be gloating, sometimes quietly and sometimes on rooftops, that they are a few...
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...
Wireless giants CMG, Comverse, Ericsson, Logica, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens are partnering to raise awareness of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and to promote the technology's development in an open global market. MMS combines audio and video clips, photographs and images with text messaging. The...
SINGAPORESingapore Airlines has deployed Unimobile Inc.'s wireless messaging platform to provide its customers mobile flight alert services. The services, which run on Unimobile's Mobile Messaging Platform and the Unimobile Intelligent Network, will be available to Singapore Airlines customers in more than 30 countries, including...
TOKYO-Japanese telecom firm KDDI Corp. has agreed to cooperate with China Unicom Ltd. on mobile-phone and Internet access technologies, according to international press reports.KDDI uses CDMA technology, and China Unicom last month signed contracts with wireless vendors to build out the first CDMA network...
Glitches are becoming to phones what muscle spasms are to track athletes-confirmation that travel to the next generation of technologies will experience limps along with leaps.Most of the big name phone makers including Sony Corp., Nokia Corp., L.M. Ericsson, NEC Corp. and Matsushita Industrial...
The future of third-generation networks took a hit last week following NTT DoCoMo's announcement that it was suspending the introduction of its highly touted 3G network in Japan from May until October. Japan's largest wireless operator, which many in the industry look to as...
Wideband CDMA and cdma2000 are not only migrating to the future, but also to the battleground.Both technologies will hoist their banners as they deploy their strengths and shield their weaknesses, especially in the two main places where they hope to flex muscles for market...
CANADACell-Loc Inc. completed and made available its Cellocate Beacon I, a wireless device that enables several location services via the company's existing networks in Calgary, Alberta and Austin, Texas. According to test data, the new device is consistent with enhanced 911 Phase II guidelines...
EDGE is dead. Long live EDGE.Depending on where they stand on the EDGE debate, some operators want EDGE born alive. Others think it should be left as merely an idea.Andrew Seybold of the Andrew Seybold Group is not amused by the optimism expressed about...
TOKYO-The number of browser-phone users in Japan exceeded 30 million as of the end of February 2001, according to the Telecommunications Carriers' Association, an industry body. According to the TCA, the number of users of browser-phone services provided by three Japanese carriers reached 31.41...
With a commercial launch in full gear in South Korea, Samsung Inc. may be the John the Baptist of 3G as the first manufacturer to streak out of the uncertain cloud hovering over migration to the technology.Already eyeing the United States' market with trials...
According to recent reports, wireless gaming is spreading nearly as fast as computer viruses pretending to be pictures of tennis stars. By 2005, more than 200 million wireless phone users in the United States and Europe, 80 percent of all wireless customers, will play...
TOKYO-Japanese wireless operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it was adding Internet services to its second-tier personal handyphone system, in an attempt to cut into a market dominated by its rival KDDI Corp.NTT said the service will offer faster transmission speeds, as high as 64...
Openwave Systems Inc., the offspring of Phone.com and Software.com's recent union, became the darling of Wall Street last week following its announcement to introduce a new browser for packet-based GPRS and third-generation wireless networks, and it already has a customer in KDDI of Japan.The...
If the Internet and mobile networks tend sometimes to be a choir of discord, the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum wants to be the voice of symphony.Founded in January 2000, the MWIF is dedicated to the merger of the two segments of the wireless industry...
The talk throughout 2000 centered on third-generation (3G) technology-its high costs, functionality, risks and mostly its promise. But 3G has different meanings in different circles. Because 3G is something that is not yet officially tangible, a concrete definition is not easy to come by.The...
