WIRE REPORTS

WCDMA infrastructure revenues topped GSM in Q4 Total Telecom Verizon Wireless of the US, Japan's NTT DoCoMo, and Net4Mobility – the Swedish joint venture between Tele2 and Telenor – are also expected to launch LTE ... Analyst Angle: Handsets are becoming commoditized RCR Wireless Internationally recognized for his telecom industry insight, he consults for companies throughout the telecom value chain (NTT DoCoMo, SKTelecom, Disney, ... and more » CScout Trend Consulting (subscription) (blog) Kinokuniya Displays Japanese Mobiles in New York CScout Trend Consulting (subscription) (blog) NTT DoCoMo, one of the country's major mobile operators, opened a small section on the lower level in September 2009. According to the company, ... PHS has uncertain future in cell phone sector The Japan Times Yusuke Tsunoda, a telecommunications analyst with Tokai Tokyo Research Center, points out that NTT DoCoMo Inc. and other carriers have withdrawn from the ... and more » Red Bend Announces Support for Intel-based Handhelds and Smartphones PR Newswire (press release) ... and leading mobile operators such as NTT Docomo and China Mobile, as well as dozens of other companies in the mobile, M2M and WiMAX markets. ... and more » Open source SSO lands in spotlight NetworkWorld.com First, NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile service provider (with over 50% of the population as customers) started offering OpenID authentication. ... and more » SoftBank to grab a piece of bankrupt Willcom IntoMobile (blog) At the moment, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) is leading the way with 55 million, while KDDI has 31 million subscribers. SoftBank, on its end, has “only” 22 million ... and more » 'Net Mobile revenues grow 6.7% to EUR 22.3 million' Trading Markets (press release) NTT Docomo's German subsidiary and mobile value added services developer Net mobile reports a 6.7 percent revenue increase for the first quarter of its ... Reality Check: The mobile service evolution continues RCR Wireless --Rich Communication Suite (RCS) picks up steam: The GSMA also announced that NTT DoCoMo, Softbank, KDDI, EMobile and NTT Corp., have joined together to ... and more » Malaysia Star U Mobile stake part of RM1bil STT plan Malaysia Star U Mobile has been seeking a strategic investor after Japan's NTT DoCoMo and South Korea's KT Freetal exited U Mobile in September last year. ... and more »

DAILY REPORTS

Feb 19 Eye controls developed for phones & MP3 players Japanese telecom giant NTT DoCoMo showed off a new pair of headphones that give users the ability to control mobile phones or MP3 players using their eyes. Designed to look like a set of regular earbuds, the NTT DoCoMo customized headset is able to read electrical changes on the surface of the human eye. A user who looks from right to left can pause music, right and then left glances skip to the next track, and rolling the eyes clockwise helps raise the volume. (myce.com) Jan 21 NTT DoCoMo to launch Xperia smart phone Japan's top mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Thursday said it will launch Sony Ericsson's Xperia smart phone in April, in a direct challenge to heavyweight Apple's iPhone handsets. With the touchscreen Xperia, a model that the Japanese-Swedish enterprise will introduce globally in the first quarter, NTT DoCoMo hopes to catch up with its smart phone rivals in Japan's already saturated market. (Economic Times) Jan 13 Is your cell phone leaking? / Data thieves exploiting new Docomo browser software functions Cell phone technology experts are warning that NTT Docomo Inc.'s latest cell phone models with i-mode Browser 2.0 software installed could expose users' personal information without their knowledge. Docomo has asked operators of Internet sites accessible from cell phones to take precautions to safeguard personal data, such as asking users to input passwords. (Yomiuri) Dec 4 DoCoMo takes major share of German unit Japan's top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Thursday it had secured an almost 80 percent stake in Germany's mobile applications and service company net mobile AG. The Japanese mobile phone giant, facing tough competition at home and looking to expand in Europe, announced in September that it planned to launch a tender offer through its wholly owned subsidiary DoCoMo Deutschland. (AFP) Nov 30 The Japanese Love Chocolate So Much They Made a Chocolate Phone This Japan-nly NTT Docomo Melty Chocolate phone is ridiculous. It's a working phone-it has 8-megapixel camera, digital TV tuner, Bluetooth and such-but the menus are designed to look like chocolate, and the outside looks like chocolate. (gizmodo.com) Nov 19 'Go global', Japanese mobile makers told Japan's mobile handset makers may have only two years left to expand abroad or risk being left behind in the technology race, one of the industry's most respected figures warned yesterday. Takeshi Natsuno - the strategist behind NTT DoCoMo's "i-mode" data service and a professor at Keio University - said the end of network operator subsidies on new handsets meant that Japanese manufacturers would soon lose their technical lead. The comments are a wake-up call to an industry that is still the world's most technologically advanced, but where handset sales have all but halved since the state subsidies ended in 2007. (FT.com) Nov 18 Sharp reportedly to offer Google-based phone in Japan Sharp Corp. will offer mobile phones in Japan that run on Google Inc.'s Android operating system as early as the first half of next year, according to a company executive cited in a report Wednesday. DoCoMo currently offers a Google-based phone made by Taiwan's HTC Corp. (MarketWatch) Nov 10 Japan's Softbank to launch Google phone in spring Softbank Corp, Japan's No.3 wireless carrier, said it will add to its lineup its first phone using Google Inc's Android operating system in the spring, following similar launches by NTT DoCoMo and Verizon Wireless. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son declined to say on Tuesday who will manufacturer its Android phone, but said the phone would feature an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen and that it had yet to go on sale. (Reuters) Nov 6 DoCoMo to rely on dividends to boost stock NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile-phone operator, aims to rely on dividend payments and strategic investments to raise its share price from record lows, Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said. DoCoMo fell to as low as 128,600 yen in Tokyo trading today, the lowest since listing in October 1998, as handset sales decline and industrywide data-transmission rate cuts sap profit. (Bloomberg) Sep 26 NTT Docomo unveils wood-based cell phone concepts Japan's leading cell phone giant NTT Docomo is joining the growing trend of ecology-as-cool with the introduction of the new TOUCH WOOD concept phones. Made from real surplus wood, the project was spearheaded by noted musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and uses an interface inspired by the photographer Mikiya Takimoto. (dvice.com) Sep 10 The Internet Revolution, Japan Style Japan's mobile-Internet guru, the man behind DoCoMo's iMode, talks about phones, competition, and his favorite mobile Web services. (Forbes) Sep 9 Japan points to wireless health's future? The largest mobile operator by subscribers, NTT DoCoMo, might bring its brand to the U.S. and offer DoCoMo wireless service over T-Mobile USA's or AT&T's network, according to reports in Japan Today and Japan Times. The reports claim that the carrier is interested in launching its advanced mobile Internet services for the U.S. market. (mobihealthnews.com) Sep 5 NTT Docomo mulls fully entering U.S. mobile phone market next year NTT Docomo Inc. is considering fully entering the U.S. mobile phone market next year, sources familiar with the matter said Friday. It would be the first time Japan's top mobile phone service provider launched the Docomo-brand business in an overseas market, the sources said. (AP) Aug 25 Mobile phones are enough for Japan's Net users It's no secret that Japan has better mobile phones than the rest of the world. The country has also had access to better phone-based Internet services since the launch of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service all the way back in 1998. Recent data from japan.internet.com (translated by whatjapanthinks.com) suggests that Japan's mobile phones offer users enough functionality that 49 percent of the respondents to a recent survey say a "mobile phone is enough" when asked what kind of mobile device they would most like to carry. (CNET) Aug 20 NTT Docomo to provide lightning strike forecasts NTT Docomo Inc. will provide local governments and corporations with forecasts for locations of lightning strikes on a commercial basis, starting as early as next fiscal year, company sources said. Areas likely to experience electrical storms can be predicted from various data, including rain cloud movement, temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure. (Yomiuri) Aug 3 BeeTV shows coming to cell phone near you BeeTV, a broadcast service for cell phones, is grabbing the spotlight in the mobile phone industry with aggressive promotions and original content featuring popular TV stars. More than 550,000 people have signed up between May, when NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Avex Group Holdings launched the service, and July 21. (Japan Times) Jul 31 Softbank outshines DoCoMo in Japan's cellphone battle Japanese mobile telephone operator Softbank announced Thursday a surge in first-quarter profits, outshining its bigger rival NTT DoCoMo Inc. whose earnings sank amid tough competition. Softbank, Japan's number three cellphone operator, said its net profit jumped 41 percent in the April-June quarter to 27.38 billion yen (288 million dollars), helped by increased revenue from handset sales and operating fees. (AFP) Jul 26 NTT Docomo to launch 1st GPS-linked info service NTT Docomo Inc. will introduce in November the first information delivery service that links domestic cell phones to the Global Positioning System, it has been learned. (Yomiuri) Jul 23 DoCoMo, KDDI show augmented reality prototypes Japan's two largest cellular carriers, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, are demonstrating this week some of their latest research into augmented reality systems. Augmented reality fuses the real world with digital data and is seen as a potentially popular technology for future cell phones. NTT DoCoMo's system provides information on the phone's screen by overlaying it on a live image from the phone's camera. (PC World) Jul 20 Mobile Internet--the final frontier for game vendors Mobile services continue to mature, and the things you can do on a phone keep getting better even when we are forced to suffer with inconsistent and occasionally terrible quality from mobile carriers. The vast majority of new services we see in the U.S. have some basis in the DoCoMo i-Mode service from NTT Japan. If you're looking for mobile opportunities, take a gander at Japan and Korea to see how mobile devices shape lives and society. (CNET) Jul 4 KDDI may invest more in WiMax venture KDDI Corp, Japan's No.2 wireless operator, could invest more in a new WiMax venture as it hunts for market share in data services, its president said on Friday. The company, which competes with sector leader NTT DoCoMo Inc and No.3 Softbank Corp in a saturated market, hopes demand for high-speed Internet downloads and uploads on the run will help expand its revenue streams over the long term. (Reuters) Jun 24 Toshiba's 1GHz smartphone now available in Japan The Toshiba TG01 was announced earlier this year as the first Windows Mobile device to sport a 1GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm. It was spied at various tradeshows but hasn't been commercially available anywhere, till now. DoCoMo is currently offering the smartphone as the T-01A in Japan. (CNET) May 27 DoCoMo eyes cash transfer by cellphone Japan's top mobile telephone operator NTT DoCoMo said Wednesday it aimed to launch a new service enabling cash transfers simply by entering the recipient's cellphone number. After applying online, users would be able to send money to another DoCoMo subscriber's bank account even if they do not know their bank details. The amount will be charged to the sender's phone bill. (AFP) May 19 NTT DoCoMo To Sell Mobile Phones Using Google's Android NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437.TO), Japan's largest mobile phone operator by subscribers, said Tuesday that it plans to sell a handset that uses Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android operating system in Japan as early as next month to compete with Apple Inc.'s (APPL) iPhone offered by Softbank Corp. (CNN) May 8 Japan gets a DoCoMo HTC Magic Looks like Vodafone isn't the only carrier getting the HTC Magic. Japan has just received one of its own, a DoCoMo version known as the HT-03A. Plus, it will have Android's new 1.5 Cupcake update already installed on it. (CNET) [ More... ]