Japanese Co. Markets Dual-Network Phone
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Japan's top mobile carrier has begun marketing a cell phone that can make Internet calls over Wi-Fi wireless networks in addition to regular ones.
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An adapter made by Siemens allows phones to make calls using the Internet or the traditional phone network.
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Partner to sell technologies that will allow users to operate and manage telephone calls from their desktops.
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NTT DoCoMo, Japan's biggest mobile carrier, may offer a cell phone based on Google's Android platform.
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NTT DoCoMo, Japan&#39;s dominant mobile operator, is to start selling mobile phones from Nokia and Motorola next year in a bid to reduce its reliance on local manufacturers.
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Increasing NTT DoCoMo&#39;s reach outside Japan, the Japanese carrier has partnered with Motorola to build a 3G FOMA phone that also does GSM/GPRS.
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Japan's Access Co. said on Thursday that  it and Softbank Corp. have developed Internet browsing and  email software for cell phones.
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Japan&#39;s top mobile carrier has begun marketing a cell phone that can make Internet calls over Wi-Fi wireless networks in addition to regular ones.
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It&#39;s easy to be wowed by Japan&#39;s mobile communications infrastructure. &quot;Next-generation&quot; 3G coverage is now so ubiquitous that carriers have already stopped launching 2G phones; an impressive array of attractive handsets offer free digital TV; phones can be used to pay for goods and train rides, thanks to embedded contactless smart cards; and on the mobile information superhighway data whizzes along at 3.6Mbps. But watch out for the off-ramps.While Japan has led the world with many of the services offered to consumers, in some ways the mobile ecosystem here is downright backward as I found out last weekend when I tried to buy a new phone. A broken handset necessitated a new model and this is where my story begins.In Japan, phones are sold by carriers and not the phone makers. Companies like Fujitsu, NEC, Sony Ericsson, and a few foreign vendors including Nokia, Samsung, and LG sell their phones in the thousands to carriers. This gives carriers the ability to pretty much dictate to the phone maker what software needs to be installed.This model is one of the reasons that mobile Internet services like I-mode took off here so quickly. There was no chicken-and-egg situation with phone makers and users waiting for each other to take the plunge. NTT DoCoMo decided I-mode would be in new phones and so it was.But this model has a downside. Phones are so tightly customized to each carrier that it&#39;s not practical to keep the same handset when switching carriers, and if you see a phone you like you can only buy it if it&#39;s offered by your carrier.Back to my story. The new phone was looking quite expensive so I decided to switch carriers and take advantage of a free phone on a competitor network. Japan launched number portability a year ago, so I could make the jump without losing my cell-phone number. I&#39;d still have the hassle of a new e-mail address, but it appeared a small price to pay.Before long I had a new phone in my hands, but my phone numbers remained locked in the old handset. The new carrier didn&#39;t have a cable to hook up to my old phone so they couldn&#39;t transfer the address book and it wasn&#39;t possible to beam it between the phones. While my old carrier was gung-ho on Bluetooth, my new carrier wasn&#39;t so enthusiastic, so the new phone had no support. Similarly, while the new phone offered infrared, the old phone didn&#39;t. Heavy customization strikes again.Back home I fired up my PC and managed to get my address book from the old phone into the computer. Getting it to the new phone via a memory card seemed like an easy task ... but no! The VCard file wasn&#39;t being properly read by the new phone. Carriers, it was explained to me when I called the help line, often used custom fields in their VCards so there were sometimes problems. So much for a common standard.I won&#39;t bore you with the technicalities of how I eventually got my address book into my new phone, but suffice to say this story has a happy ending. I&#39;m now back in cruise control, enjoying all the attractions the mobile superhighway has to offer.The number portability system that enabled me to keep my phone number is coincidentally one-year-old this week. About 3 percent of users in Japan -- roughly 3.7 million people -- have made use of the system during its first year -- far less than the industry predicted, or feared.One thing that&#39;s said to be stopping users from switching is the inability to keep their e-mail addresses. While carriers fussed over the details of keeping numbers, they forgot, or perhaps ignored, the need to carry e-mail addresses between carriers. In other countries this wouldn&#39;t be a big deal because most messaging is done via SMS, which relies on phone numbers, but in Japan the advanced stage of the market has again caused hassle for consumers.
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KDDI Corp. (9433.T), Japan's  second-biggest phone company, said on Monday it plans to offer  fibre-optic broadband services via cables owned by East Japan  Railway Co. (9020.T) to challenge dominant operator Nippon  Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (9432.T).
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Top Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo (9437.T) said on Thursday it would launch a 3G phone equipped for use overseas and including a video conferencing function, getting a leg-up on its closest rival, KDDI Corp. (9433.T).
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Japan&#39;s NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437.T) and  Atlanta-based AT&T Inc.&#39;s  wireless unit will work  together to build a high-speed mobile network throughout  Hawaii, catering to Japanese tourists.
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(InfoWorld) - NTT DoCoMo will partially fund the construction of AT&T's 3G phone network in Hawaii, it said Thursday. The unusual agreement will see NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest cellular carrier, provide AT&TÂ with $24 million to help it build the network. The network will be based on WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and AT&T will launch service on the island of Oahu late this year and statewide in 2008, NTT DoCoMo said in a statement. Hawaii is a major holiday destination for Japanese tourists but most NTT DoCoMo customers can't use their cellphones on the island. That's because the carrier's 2G handsets are based on a proprietary standard used only in Japan and because in most 3G phones it has left out GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) compatibility leaving only 3G for overseas roaming. Because the proprietary 2G format kept many previous handsets offline many consumers aren't used to it and don't look for it when buying a new handset. Although that's slowly changing as more experience the convenience of using their phone overseas for the first time. NTT DoCoMo said it will work with AT&T to promote roaming in the U.S. as a result of the deal. Last year NTT DoCoMo made another investment in the Pacific when it acquired Guam Cellular & Paging and then used that company to acquire Guam Wireless Telephone Company. The investments, which totaled about $72 million, were made to speed up the introduction of WCDMA on Guam and help its roaming business. Guam is another major tourist destination for Japanese people.
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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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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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TOKYO Schaumburg(Illinois)-based Motorola and Japan&#39;s top mobile-phone carrier plan to develop a more sophisticated mobile phone that subscribers in Japan can use while traveling to other parts of Asia and to Europe.
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NTT DoCoMo, Japan&#39;s top mobile-phone carrier, and Motorola Inc., the world&#39;s No. 2 cell-phone maker, plan to develop a next-generation mobile phone that subscribers in Japan can also use while traveling in