TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest mobile operator in Japan, announced it will launch location services using the global positioning system (GPS) satellite system and motion picture services with 64 kilobits per second (kbps) data speeds in early December. KDDI is losing market share in Japan, while...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.—Japanese mobile operator KDDI announced the 10 millionth mobile subscriber on its cdmaOne network has registered. The network, Japan's first CDMA digital cellular network, and the infrastructure were designed, manufactured and installed by Motorola in 1998. "We have listened to our customers,...
TOKYO—Toshiba and KDDI will jointly launch a field test for communications between digital consumer electronics and mobile handsets next March. About 500 households in Tokyo and Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, will participate in the field test, which is designed to verify technology that collects...
TOKYO—NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile carrier in Japan, achieved rapid business expansion by gaining a 59.6-percent market share of new customers in September. J-Phone, now owned by the world's largest mobile carrier Vodafone Group, had expanded its share significantly in July and August, while...
TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest operator in Japan, is going to postpone its third-generation (3G) service launch from the original plan of this quarter to April 2002 due to delays in software development, KDDI announced. Instead, KDDI will provide 64 kilobits per second (kbps) services until...
TOKYO—Japan's KDDI Corp. said it was postponing the launch of its high-speed mobile Internet access service from this fall to next April.KDDI said the cdma2000 1x-based service planned by its au wireless subsidiary was not being delayed by standards glitches, but by software issues."There...
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...