Motorola To Develop FOMA Mobile Phone Handset for DoCoMo
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DoCoMo previously procured FOMA handsets only from domestic manufacturers. The two companies -- Motorola and DoCoMo -- said they aim to market the new handset from next spring targeting business users.
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Japan&#39;s biggest mobile telecom carrier gave its strongest support yet to&#160;Google&#39;s Android platform&#160;on Thursday when it said it is considering a cell phone based on the technology.&quot;We are starting discussions to offer handsets that will have the Android operating system,&quot; said Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of the multimedia services department at NTT DoCoMo.The talks include getting support for I-mode, DoCoMo&#39;s hit mobile Internet service, on the Android platform. Nearly 48 million of DoCoMo&#39;s 53 million customers subscribe to I-mode, so having it on Android will be key to the Google platform&#39;s success in Japan.Android is a Linux-based platform for cell phones that will combine open-source components and include an operating system, middleware stack, customizable user interface and applications.NTT DoCoMo is one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the group developing Android. Until Thursday hadn&#39;t disclosed what it hoped to gain from its participation in the group, which includes about 40 companies including some of the biggest names in the cell phone industry.&quot;When I look at the prototype, the Android-based handset works really well even on some of the cheaper handset designs,&quot; said Natsuno.Natsuno didn&#39;t provide any specifics about when such a handset might be available. When the Open Handset Alliance was launched last year Google said that it expected the first phones running the software to appear in late 2008.Despite its support for Android, NTT DoCoMo is also working with companies developing rival platforms. It has an alliance with Access, a Japanese software company with which is has deep ties, on the Access Linux Platform (ALP). DoCoMo is working on a &quot;carrier pack,&quot; a set of unique products and services, that can run on ALP, which is intended to be a common Linux platform for cell phones.Natsuno&#39;s comments came at a Tokyo news conference held to detail a partnership between the carrier and Google.The alliance will see Google products and applications added to DoCoMo handsets. These will include the addition of a Google search box on the main I-mode menu page from which users will access mobile and PC Web sites. Google Ads will appear alongside search results. The two companies said they are also planning to bring more Google services, such as Google Maps, to handsets and build in support for Flash video so that users can access and stream content from YouTube.Google will appear as the default start page on mobile phones that feature browsers for the full Internet.The deal is Google&#39;s second in the mobile space in Japan. It already has a deal with second-ranked carrier &quot;au&quot; to which it provides search and advertising services. Number three carrier Softbank Mobile has a link with Yahoo Japan, the portal in which its parent company, Softbank, is the biggest shareholder.&#160;
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Motorola Inc., the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, said on Tuesday it expects to sustain strong sales growth in the second half of 2004 thanks to new handsets with innovative designs and features.
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Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc., Fuji Television  Network Inc., Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. and other firms  will team up to develop new broadcast services for cellphones,  the companies said on Wednesday.
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Motorola, No. 2 maker of mobile telephones, and NTT DoCoMo, the world&#39;s second-largest wireless carrier, will jointly develop handsets to attract business customers in Japan.
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NTT DoCoMo, Japan's dominant mobile operator, is planning to offer combined fixed and mobile services to business and residential customers. It is the latest sign of growing global interest in convergence between the two technologies.
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Motorola Inc., the No. 2 mobile phone  maker, said on Wednesday it expects sales of phones based on  the WCDMA third-generation technology to more than quadruple  next year, helping it claw back market share.
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(InfoWorld) - Motorola plans to acquire wireless mobile device developer Symbol Technologies for $3.9 billion, the companies announced Tuesday. Symbol makes a range of devices for businesses, including handheld computers that may include bar code scanners, RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies and WiFi. They are widely used by workers in warehouses and large retail outlets, and by delivery services. The acquisition would fit with Motorola's history as a developer of mobile phones and two-way radios, and advances its push into companies' mobile computing strategies, it said. Motorola has traditionally catered to businesses, notably with is push-to-talk technology used by Nextel in the U.S., and with its Canopy broadband wireless infrastructure business. While Symbolâs products have a broad customer base the company has faced hurdles in the past few years. In 2004, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fined Symbol $37 million fine for fraudulent accounting practices. Eleven executives were charged with securities fraud including the former chief executive, who subsequently fled the U.S. Rumors had surfaced over the past few days that Symbol was looking for a buyer. The deal is expected to close later this year or early in 2007, subject to regulatory and other approvals. Symbol will become a Motorola subsidiary and continue to operate from its headquarters in Holtsville, N.Y.
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NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan&#39;s largest mobile-phone operator, and MMO2 Plc will introduce a cellular- phone service in the UK, Ireland and Germany based on the Japanese carrier&#39;s i-mode wireless Internet technology.
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Sharp and the Japanese division of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications will jointly develop mobile phone handsets based on the Symbian operating system (for NTT DoCoMo&#39;s third-generation (3G) Foma service in Japan and software for Foma phones.
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(InfoWorld) - Motorola Inc. launched an entry-level cell phone on Tuesday, hoping to make up ground on rival Nokia Corp. by selling a large number of the simple handsets instead of relying on high-priced smartphones. Motorola launched the Motofone F3 in India, planning to roll it out soon to worldwide markets. The company will focus its sales efforts on developing countries in an effort to enlist the world's next billion mobile phone users, said Ron Garriques, president of Motorola's mobile devices division. The value-priced handset is designed to attract first-time users by substituting graphical icons and voice commands for the standard text-based interface. The phone saves weight and cost by using a plastic screen instead of glass, and extends battery life by using a monochrome "electronic ink" display. Motorola launched a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) version called the Motofone F3 Tuesday, and said it would launch a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) version called Motofone F3c by the end of 2006. The company predicted the phone will cost less than US$50, although specific prices are set by carriers. Motorola plans to use the product to win business in a different market segment than its high-end Q smartphone and ultra-slim Razr and Krzr cell phones. Sales of those phones pushed Motorola to sell 53.7 million handsets in the third quarter of 2006, an increase of 39 percent over that period last year and a larger gain than the market average. As a whole,Â worldwide mobile phone sales grew 21.5 percent in the third quarter, to 251 million units, according to market research firm Gartner Inc. Despite its strong performance, Motorola was not able to catch up to Nokia, which retained its position as the world's largest mobile phone vendor with 35.1 percent of the market. Motorola trailed with 20.6 percent market share, ahead of Samsung with 12.2 percent, Gartner said. Still, by launching its Motofone before the end of 2006, Motorola surprised some analysts who had predicted a seasonal slump for the company. "The Krzr is struggling to enjoy the same reception that greeted the Razr, and the Motofone might not be available until 2007. Christmas might not be so jolly for Motorola in some markets," Gartner said in its report. By targeting developing markets, Motorola has made a smart move to fight that challenge, said the report by Carolina Milanesi, Gartner's principal analyst for mobile terminals research. "Although sales of replacement handsets during the third quarter in more mature markets were not as buoyant as we have been accustomed to, they were offset by continuing momentum in sales to first-time buyers in emerging markets." With Motofone, Motorola has made a strong bet that she is right. The company relied heavily on its mobile devices division for $7.03 billion of its total $10.6 billion revenue for the third quarter. Â
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Motorola Inc , the world's  third biggest mobile phone maker, on Sunday unveiled two new  cell phones and a plan to buy Asian digital music service  Soundbuzz Pte Ltd. as it looks to stem recent market share  losses.
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Motorola plans to sell mobile phone network equipment that uses Linux-based code, a step forward in network gear makers&#39; efforts to rally around a standard.
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Motorola and NTT DoCoMo, Japan&#39;s top mobile phone operator, plan to jointly develop third-generation handsets, giving Motorola a way into a market largely out of reach for foreign manufacturers.
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DoCoMo has tapped up handset vendors to create the platform, which works with both Linux and Symbian phones, working with NEC and Panasonic on the former and Fujitsu on the latter.
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Motorola Inc. will conduct an m-commerce field trial of mobile phones enabled with MasterCard PayPass and Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, the company announced Tuesday.
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Japan's NTT DoCoMo will join hands with Cingular Wireless of the United States, aiming to unify technical specifications for third-generation (3G) cellphones and services.