Remember the white BlackBerry Bold that launched on AT&T last month after we scooped it in August? Looks like our Japanese brethren will be able to sport one on their hip, too. Starting December 3rd, NTT DoCoMo will make the blanco version of the BlackBerry Bold available to the Japanese public. Consider us big thinkers but we’re pretty sure this will do incredibly well over in Japan.

Forgive forgive forgive…

I have been unable to properly post for over a week because guess what? As lame as it sounds, my internet is down.

My internet situation is brutally complicated. I receive bills for it from three different companies and every 3 or 4 months or so it stops. Tons of fun.

First I have to pay “OCN” which I guess is my provider although I could be wrong.
Next I have to pay Docomo for the actual line itself and the box and whatever else. Then occasionally I get these silly little bills for 400 yen, about 4 dollars, from another division of Docomo or Ntt or something and its all a nightmare.

Of and calling the help line…forget about it. I might as well ring up some random person living Argentina and try and talk to them about the current political situation in Pakistan. Its horrid. Its pure torture. Its ultra-complex. Its Japan.

I know I am a baffoon…but I refuse to beleive its only me suffering here.

Hopefully I can get ahold of someone at one of these companies tonight (doubt it, they close at 3PM) or tomorrow and beg them to please, pretty please turn my internet back on.

Bare with me loyal readers, I am working on it.

NTT DoCoMo launches MyArea femtocell

Following through on an initial announcement last July, NTT DoCoMo has launched its MyArea HSUPA-capable femtocell in Japan.  According to DoCoMo, the femtocell “creates a private FOMA area in the home as a highly stable wireless environment for high-speed packet communication”.  Pricing is only $5 per month with no sign-up fee (although this will increase to $22 sign-up + $10 per month next June – further details here).  It appears that DoCoMo is carrying out installations of the femtocell for its customers.

Of particular interest is the operator’s emphasis on services.  For example, the MyArea femtocell uses presence detection to inform parents when their children arrive at home.  It also offers exclusive music and video content for MyArea subscribers in the femtozone.

Comcast testing WiMAX femtocells

According to Fierce Wireless, Comcast is conducting trials of WiMAX femtocells.  Although femtocells are “slowly worming their way into the heart of the U.S. wireless industry,” a commercial WiMAX femtocell deployment by the nation’s largest cable provider probably won’t happen until next year.

ABI reduces 2009 femtocell forecast

ABI Research caused a stir by reducing its 2009 femtocell shipment forecast by 55% from 790,000 to 350,000 units.  According to practice director Aditya Kaul, “operators haven’t pushed femtocells as much or as soon as expected”.  The news sparked sensationalist headlines, such as “Femtocells struggle to catch on” and “Femtocells are a no show”.

But despite what Wireless Week calls a “drastic lowering” of ABI’s femtocell estimates, the reality is that the research firm’s forecast has changed very little over the medium term.  Commenting on Think Femtocell, Kaul is keen to point out that his views of the femtocell market have been mis-represented by the dramatic headlines, and that he remains positive about the market’s potential.  Meanwhile, the ABI Twitter feed highlights that recent femtocell announcements in China, Japan and India are positive for the market.

Vodafone promotes its femtocell

As Verizon and AT&T wage a war of words (and TV adverts) over who has the best 3G network in the US, Vodafone in the UK is claiming that the iPhone 3Gs will work much faster on its network than those of its rivals.  Vodafone also points out that its Access Gateway femtocell turbo-charges 3G performance at home – something What Mobile believes could be a significant advantage over the UK’s other iPhone operators, O2 and Orange.

Meanwhile, Vodafone reseller Next Communications is offering £30 off the price of the Vodafone Access Gateway for its small and medium sized business customers.

KPN and OnePhone target German SMEs with femtocells

A joint venture between KPN and OnePhone will use femtocells [actually picocells] to target German businesses with between 30 and 1,500 employees.  OnePhone (under the Spring Mobil brand) already uses picocells in Sweden to deploy its network in business premises, enabling its customers to save money by getting rid of their fixed line phones.  In Germany, the company’s phones will roam onto KPN’s E-Plus network when outdoors.

Airvana announces enterprise femtocell

Airvana has announced the HubBub UMTS High-Capacity Femtocell.  Shipping sometime next year, the device will support 16 simultaneous voice calls with a range of up to 600 meters and data throughput of 21.6 Mbps download (5.7 Mbps upload).

Commenting in a market research update, Current Analysis’ Peter Jarich says enterprise femtocells are “more important than ever”.

In other news…

• Another good 3G MicroCell review.
• ThinkFemtocell advocates easy self-management of femto access control lists.
• Fierce Wireless encourages operators to focus on femto services and enterprise deployments.
• AirWalk wins CDG Innovation in Wireless Enterprise Solutions Development Award.
• Airvana also wins CDG award for CDMA femtocell with integrated analogue telephone adaptor and router.
• Airvana dismisses the “femto grid” concept (no argument there).
• HTC builds phone with MiFi embedded.
• US data market update.
• NICTA demonstrates new interference-cancellation modem for 3G femtocell networks.

I will take a bottom-up approach in this post ‘cos I’m more interested in Electronic Electronish things!

“FeliCa is a technology developed by Sony in which a microchip, embedded in a card or electronic device, combines processing, storage, and communications functions. The name derives from the word “felicity,” suggesting convenience. The data on the chip is nonvolatile and can be overwritten indefinitely. The FeliCa chip can be used in portable digital devices such as cell phone sets.” (techtarget.com)

Now, what’s about the title?!

Wallet Mobile – おサイフケータイ- الهاتف المحفظة, is a technology that was introduced in Japan since 2004 by NTT DoCoMo, in which mobiles are equipped with FeliCa chip that enables users to make payments as if they’re using credit cards and even faster, all what you need is to scan your mobile, and yeah you can recharge it with the exact amount that you would like to limit your payments with, security issues. Moreover, with this technology, mobile handsets in Japan can also be used as a train-pass (Suica), can’t you see how convenient is this?  When I was in Japan I felt shy to use my piece of junk (mobile) within that sophisticated market of mobile. Now this sounds pathetic but 6 years later and still no significant approach in the middle east to improve the hardware infrastructure of mobiles telecommunication industry/market, all what they are doing now is expanding the speed and consequently the cost, and we blindly compliment on how good our telecommunication companies are (Z and W) while NTT DoCoMo is generations leaping ahead, hmm!                                                                                                                                                                         Check this out:

done

Even Taxis…!

The Asia-Pacific region is getting ever-closer to faster mobile broadband, with network operators in Japan, Singapore, Australia and Indonesia readying their Long Term Evolution networks. Today NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile operator, affirmed its plans to deploy LTE in 2010; it also said it would shut off its 2G network in March 2011 since most subscribers now have 3G phones. NTT DoCoMo had previously said it would keep the 2G network running until December 2012. Speaking at the GSM Association’s Mobile Asia Congress 2009, Ryuji Yamada, president and CEO of NTT DoCoMo, said LTE data cards will be ready in 2010 and handsets will be ready in 2011.

Singapore Telecommunications, the largest carrier in Singapore with operations in Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines, also disclosed plans for LTE trials. SingTel has chosen Alcatel-Lucent (s alu) as its equipment vendor for the trials, which will begin in the first half of 2010 and take anywhere from six to nine months. The network operator hopes the trial will help it and its regional associates and joint ventures better understand LTE and determine the best approach and strategy for its adoption in their respective local markets. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., we await Verizon’s (s vz) and MetroPCS’ (s pcs) 2010 deployments, with netbooks and smartphones in hand.

And not in the manner you’d expect.

I’ll let the subhead in the link tell the story:

Researchers at NTT DoCoMo have developed a set of prototype in-ear headphones that can detect and measures changes in the body’s electrical state that take place when your eyes move, and have harnessed this technology to control the music player on a mobile phone.

NTT DoCoMo una de las mas importantes operadoras de celular de Japon revelo uno de sus nuevos conceptos: Celulares hechos con madera, los cuales tienen un diseño Cool y muy bien cuidado estos telefono ademas seran presentados en Ginebra en el proximo Telecom World 2009 .

Cabe destacar que estos telefonos fueron un proyecto encabezado por un musico: Ryuichi Sakamoto y la interfaz que fue diseñada por el fotografo Mikiya Takimoto, los cuales fueron ayudados por empresas como Sharp y Olympus.

Na última semana, a operadora de telefonia japonesa NTT Docomo anunciou o desenvolvimento do Touch Wood, um protótipo de celular ecologicamente correto, feito com o reaproveitamento de restos de madeira.

Baseado na arquitetura do modelo SH-04A, da Sharp, o aparelho é resultado dos esforços da parceria feita entre a NTT Docomo, a Sharp, a Olympus e o projeto de reflorestamento “More Trees”, criado pelo músico Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Resistente a água e protegido contra mofo e insetos, os protótipos serão exibidos pelas empresas, durante o próximo mês, na ITU Telecom World, evento que ocorre em Genebra, Suíça, e na Ceatec Japan 2009, na cidade de Chiba, Japão.

Ich glaube, das hat weniger mit “Öko” zu tun als damit, dass sich die Teile gut anfassen. Der grosse japanische Mobilfunkprovider bietet seinen Kunden Dienstleitungen, von welchen amerikanische und europäische Unterwegstelefonierer nur neidvoll träumen können.

Jetzt hat er in Zusammenarbeit mit den Hardware-Herstellern Sharp und Olympus sowie dem Musiker Ryuichi Sakamoto und dem Fotografen Mikiya Takimoto eine Serie von in Holz gehüllten Telefonen aufgelegt.

Auf der Telecom World 2009 in Genf ( 5.- 9. Oktober 09) dann mehr davon.

( fritz)

( via dvice)

On September 15^th, Adobe announced its plans to acquire Omniture, a leading web analytics firm. Since then, many have tried to determine the reasoning behind the acquisition, including a great discussion that’s been going on over at WebAnalyticsDemystified.com that you should check out.

Adobe specifically stated in its press release that — “by combining Adobe’s content creation tools and ubiquitous clients with Omniture’s Web analytics, measurement and optimization technologies, Adobe will be well positioned to deliver solutions that can transform the future of engaging experiences and e-commerce across all digital content, platforms, and devices.” It was the “engaging experiences” part that really caught my attention.

You see, it was a little more than two and a half years ago, right after Adobe bought Macromedia that I coined a white paper for Adobe, while I was at IDC, entitled— “Creating a More Engaging Mobile Experience.” You can see what I wrote here, as Adobe still has it on their site. That tagline was used later that month in the company’s messaging at 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, splashed in big letters across its booth and on its marketing and press materials. They rode that campaign for quite a while.

My paper was about a new class of emerging mobile services that delivered a different experience from what people were receiving on mobile phones previously. Examples of these new “experiences” were coming from companies like NTT DoCoMo with its i-channel service, and from Verizon Wireless, which was using Flash-enabled applications (by Adobe) in its Get It Now service. The argument was that if you delivered more eye-appealing content, more multimedia pizzazz, you could drive higher ARPU, and keep your customers. A new experience was great for consumers, developers, handset vendors, and mobile operators. Remember, this was pre-iPhone, and Adobe was pushing Flash hard across handset vendors, and was doing quite well at it. I also outlined the “multiple click” problem in getting to content, but mobile operators were still dragging their heels on that one two years later.

And so, now Adobe seems to be using the words “engaging experience” literally across the entire spectrum of all digital content respective of platform or device. In buying Omniture, it gets a company that provides site data, measurement, insight, and ROI for its customers (advertisers). Will Adobe put Omniture into Flash? Was this a preemptive move against Microsoft and Google? Or a preemptive move in hopes that Adobe can sell itself to Microsoft down the road? Will this help Omniture, which was increasingly battling Google Analytics, Unica, and others in the web analytics space? All questions being asked in the blogosphere this week.

I believe Adobe when it says that its vision is to drive engaging experiences across all content types, platforms, and devices. And the analytics behind that content are increasingly important today. That is, if the data is representative and is to be believed. And Web analytics forms, including Omniture are working on improving data validity.

But I also agree with John Bastone at SAS who posted on WebAnayticsDemystified.com that “we’ll (SAS) continue to be agnostic on the technologies driving the interactive customer experience. Whether the front end is driven by Flash, Java, HTML, or for that matter, a point of sale system, and whether it is accessed via Webpage, Mobile Device or Social Networking site, we believe more businesses are moving to an integrated view of the customer across all customer touch points.” You see, no one lives in a one platform, one party system (Adobe, Microsoft, Google). An “integrated view of the customer,” means that a media company needs their content to spread across TV, Web, and mobile, with great “integrated” analytics underneath it all, and pulled into focus. Not disparate pools of data (and mobile analytics is still not easy) like today.

And then today, Omniture announced a partnership with comScore…

Disclaimer-

I was hired by Adobe to write a white paper on “Engaging Mobile Experiences” two years ago.

Thomas K Thomas on August 22, 2009 on the Hindu Business Line at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/08/22/stories/2009082250660400.htm

Tokyo, Aug. 21 Indian operators should give a higher percentage of revenue share to application developers in order to promote value-added services (VAS), according to Japanese mobile player NTT DoCoMo.

In Japan, for example, NTT DoCoMo gives away as much as 90 per cent of the revenues earned from VAS to the application developers. In comparison, most Indian mobile players keep 60-70 per cent of the income earned from applications.

“It will take a while for them to understand that giving a higher share to VAS players works to the operators’ advantage in the long run. But we will have to persuade them to take a lower share so we can get an ecosystem that supports good data services,” Mr Toshinari Kuneida, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director of Global Business Division, NTT DoCoMo, told Business Line.

Mr Kuneida said that NTT DoCoMo will talk to its Indian partner, Tata Teleservices, to change the VAS business model in India.

VAS contribution

In India, value added services contribute only 5-10 per cent to an operator’s revenues. In contrast, operators such as NTT DoCoMo get over 40 per cent of their average revenue per user from interesting data services. That is because while there is not much innovation happening in the Indian VAS segment, Japanese operators are giving services useful to the subscriber’s everyday life.

For example, NTT DoCoMo has launched a healthcare service that gives consumer details about his physical condition including how much he has walked in a day, his body mass index and how much he needs to cut down on food. The service is linked to a medical doctor’s device in the backend that receives data about the subscriber’s health and comes back with an advice. All this over the mobile phone.

In India, VAS are all SMS-based services with little innovation. Most VAS players do not find it feasible to invest in developing high-end applications since the operators are not willing to give more than 30 per cent of the revenue earned from that service.

But with Indian operators on the verge of launching 3G technologies, they will have to encourage application development if they have to start earning higher revenues from data services. Due to the cutting-edge applications being developed in Japan, players such as NTT DoCoMo are seeing 80 per cent of the total traffic coming from data services in that country.

Ето заради каква джаджа се разправях 7 часа на митницата на летище София.

Апарата е от последната пролетно/лятна серия на Японския мобилен оператор NTT DoCoMo – SH-06A prime series. 10 mpx CCD матрица , 3.3 инчов FWVGA ASV LCD display с 16 млн. цвята , въртящ се на 180 градуса са само малка част от технологийте наблъскани в корпуса на телефона.

Снежно бял на цвят … ммм

Ако някой има интерес да се свърже с мен , може да се договорим , скоро ще добавя и видео. Галерия:

La LiMo Foudation ha annunciato che Panasonic e NEC hanno annunciati la realizzazione di nove nuovi telefoni cellulari equipaggiati con il sistema operativo open source LiMo (Linux Mobile). I cellulari sono stati realizzati dalle due società per Ntt DoCoMo, il principale operatore telefonico del Giappone. Morgan Gillis, direttore esecutivo della LiMo Foundation, ha dichiarato: “Lo scorso febbraio alcuni operatori avevano annunciato la loro intenzione di lanciare più dispositivi basati sulla piattaforma LiMo. Questa nuova linea di dispositivi evidenzia l’impegno che i nostri operatori e produttori di cellulari mostrano verso la Fondazione LiMo”. I cellulari sono destinati esclusivamente al mercato giapponese.

Japanese researchers over at NTT DoCoMo, are testing some interesting 3G technologies. Tests carried out in Tokyo reached download rates of 300 Mbps and uploads of up to 80 Mbps via improved 3G technology. They managed this by using some new technologies ( HSDPA and HSUPA if you really want to know) and the regular 3G platform to achieve high speed (100 times faster than regular 3G) mobile connections.

For now tests are carried using a single antenna and phone pair, but upon deployment the technology is meant to use multiple MIMO antennas. So this means no lags, fast media streaming and data transfer for mobile devices. The only problem is that you’ll have to wait until 2009 when they predict the technology will be ready to use.

NTT DoCoMo is going to release a new eco-friendly Sharp SH-08A handset. The new SH-08A is a flip phone that has: splash-resistance, an 8MP camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA support, a VGA display, and three colour options (above). The solar panels on the top will give you one minute of talk time for 10 minutes of boiling in the sun. It’s better than nothing, to be honest. This handset will be on display at Wireless Japan this month and they should be available in September.

[Engadget Mobile]

Mobile operator NTT DoCoMo also a provider of mobile voice, data and multimedia services has invested $45.5 million in PacketVideo, a long-time supplier of mobile video software which gives NTT Docomo a 35 percent stake in PacketVideo