Goin' Mobile Japan

Season Greetings from JETRO

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your interest and applications to our upcoming “Consumer Electronics Show Partnering Program 2005” at CES 2005 in Las Vegas.

We are also working on having a business-matching program at CTIA Wireless 2005 in New Orleans. Details will soon be announced.
Our next newsletter will be sent out in February 2005.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I. Trend Watch

Real time high-definition live image/sound delivery on 3G networks

II. This Month's Top Stories

New automated image conversion service for mobile phones released
Index and five Tokyo based broadcasting stations team up to form “TeMo Inc.”
Yamaha offering free authoring tools for adding graphics and animation to ring tones
MTI started new contents for baseball fans during off-season
You can search songs using your humming
DoCoMo and NHK develop viewing data collecting system
Hudson offers English game site for English speakers
FM Tokyo merges with Gigno System Japan to expand mobile business
Jorudan starts English version of traffic search service
New service enables automatic clipping of face from pictures
New mobile site search engine using PC launched
New chatting service enables sending of pictures
Tower Records and two other companies jointly launch music portal site
56.9 percent of young girls have mobile phones
Megasoft updates its housekeeping software for Felica and Edy users
KDDI and six radio broadcasters will test 1 segment broadcast
Felica handset becomes house key
Yahoo Travel starts hotel reservation service for i-mode users
Hitachi starts Kimekuru field test
KDDI establishes new integrated support system
Hitachi develops BREW 3.1-compliant user interface construction tool
QUALCOMM Teams With Global Infrastructure Leaders to Develop CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A Network Solutions
NEC starts new service adapting NTT Docomo’s N900iL
Japan Telecom succeeds with broadband Internet connection test in moving train
45 percent change ring tones once a month
DoCoMo develops common software platform for 3G FOMA handsets
NEC develops high quality image delivery device
Mobile Contents Forum releases Mobile White Page

III. Statistics

Trend Watch:

Real time high-definition live image/sound delivery on 3G networks

Currently, 3G wireless networks are being used for commercial broadcasting business. As you can read in the NEC news release on November 25, NEC developed and started marketing “MobileStream,” a high-definition live image/sound broadcasting system. This system enables broadcasters, corporations and municipal governments to deliver live images and sounds for various purposes including security monitoring and disaster watch. The advantage of the system is that it will be able to broadcast live image/sound by coding images/sound and delivering this data by bulk transfer technology, which uses two to four combined packet communication streams from 3G wireless networks such as FOMA. The equipment is light and easy to carry in places where the broadcasting relay car cannot enter. The systems uses the codec system bases on H.264, which enables the compression of data at more than twice the capacity of MPEG -2 and MPEG-4. The system also adopts the “AMR” sound codec used by FOMA. The entire system, including camera and recorder, is only 9 pounds - light enough to carry anywhere.

It consists of three products:
1) Equipment for bulk transfer of high-definition image/sound (two to four communication cards)
2) Bundling router to receive image/sound and decode data.
3) Viewer software based on H.264 codec (for viewing image/sound on PC platform).

Source: http://www.nec.co.jp/press/ja/0411/2503.html

Now, live reporters do not need to be in the range of a satellite-enabled broadcasting relay car. A 3G network is good enough to send live pictures anywhere in Japan. NEC plans to market this system at a price of 7.35 Million yen from February 2005 and is expecting sales of 500 units over the next three years.

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This Month’s Top Stories:

10/29/2004
New automated image conversion service for mobile phones released
http://www.webtech.co.jp/information/optpixgs/041029.html (Japanese release)
Web Technology Corp. and Gigno System Japan Inc. started an automated image conversion service for mobile phones called “OPTPiX GS iMageCreator” on November 1. Users can request the service from their mobile phones. The service converts images to an optimum data format for each mobile phone model. It is an all-in-one ASP service supporting automatic image deliveries for mobile-phone-based website setups. The initial set-up fee is 100,000 yen and the monthly access fee is 38,000 yen (for up to 100,000 uses).

11/1/2004
Index and five Tokyo based broadcasting stations team up to form “TeMo Inc.”
http://www.indexweb.co.jp/english/press/press.php?id=75 (English release)
Index Corporation and five Tokyo based television-broadcasting stations have jointly established a new company called “TeMo Inc.” The company will create a new approach to viewing television. With the unified support of broadcasting networks, TeMo deploys real-time mobile content in direct connection with TV programs. TeMo will develop, provide, and operate a revolutionary remote-control system via the mobile phone. Furthermore, in cooperation with broadcasting stations and Index Corp., TeMo will utilize and maintain a common platform for stable expansion of mobile content/television programming tie-ups. In the future, TeMo will provide new mobile services by developing applications and server systems that capitalize on existing mobile phone remote-control devices (it will also expand module options). The TeMo service aims to expand revenue channels beyond the current advertising-dependent model by guiding users to the official mobile site of each broadcasting station. Moreover, it will lead to the establishment of new business models in the era of terrestrial digital broadcasting.

11/1/2004
Yamaha offering free authoring tools for adding graphics and animation to ring tones
http://www.global.yamaha.com/news/2004/20041101.html (English release)
Yamaha Corporation started offering free authoring tools for mobile handsets that are compatible with SMAF1 and equipped with Yamaha-manufactured audio chips MA-2 (Yamaha brand YMU759), MA-3 (YMU762) and MA-5 (YMU765), permitting users to add multimedia content to their handsets. The tools, including PC software named SCAS (Synchronous Contents Authoring System), are accessible beginning November 1 from Yamaha’s “SMAF GLOBAL” web site (the downloading is free). The site not only serves as an introduction to SMAF authoring tools, but it also lists handheld devices compatible with the format, provides links to SMAF international sites and gives examples of sample applications and multimedia content for SMAF.

11/1/2004
MTI started new contents for baseball fans during off-season
http://www.mti.co.jp/press/pdf/041101_01.pdf (Japanese release)
MTI started “Off Season Special”, a service that distributes content such as baseball-themed games for its “Sokuho! Professional Baseball” service for i-mode and EZweb users. In addition to games, it delivers ring tones such as players’ theme songs and baseball anime theme songs. It also provides baseball-related trivia quizzes for i-mode and EZweb users and gives away prizes for winners. The monthly charge is either 300 or 315 yen, depending on services.

11/1/2004
You can search songs using your humming
http://www.mitsui.co.jp/tkabz/news/2004/041101.html (Japanese release)
Swing Corporation and Utagoe Ltd. have developed “Hanauta (Humming) Search” which enables users to search songs using humming sounds. This service will be available at “Qool Melo,” a ring tone providing site operated by Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Swing Corporation, a Mitsui company, is considering providing the service to other contents providers as well. They say it is also suitable for searching songs at karaoke boxes.

11/4/2004
DoCoMo and NHK develop viewing data collecting system
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/new/contents/04/whatnew1104.html (Japanese release)
DoCoMo and NHK have developed a system for collecting television-viewing data using an i-Appli with a remote controlling function. Currently, NHK is conducting a field test. The application is designed for FOMA devices, and NHK is providing FOMA handsets to its monitoring viewers. The system enables users to collect data regarding viewed channels as well as viewer information such as gender and age group. The companies said the collected data would be much more accurate than those from existing research platforms.

11/2/2004
Hudson offers English game site for English speakers
http://www.hudson.co.jp/corp/news/bn2004/041102.html (Japanese release)
Hudson launched a new site on November 1 called “Game Master,” an English version of one of its current i-Appli game sites. The monthly fee is 315 yen. The site is developed for English speakers residing in Japan. All documents are translated to English. The site contains 30 games, such as “Road Runner” and simple games for first time users. The service is designed for 505i, 506i and FOMA 900i series.

11/5/2004
FM Tokyo merges with Gigno System Japan to expand mobile business
http://www.gignosystem.com/pdf/20041008_sandou.pdf (Japanese release)
FM Tokyo completed its merger with Gigno System Japan, Inc. and held a press conference on November 5 to announce its future plans. At the conference, Mr. Wataru Goto, president of Tokyo FM, declared that FM Tokyo had obtained 54.07 percent of Gigno System’s stock and that Gigno System has become a consolidated subsidiary of FM Tokyo. Mr. Goto also explained that the purpose of the merger was to expand the mobile-related businesses, including the 3-segment-digital-radio project.

11/5/2004
Jorudan starts English version of traffic search service
http://www.jorudan.co.jp/company/pdf_pr/20041105_english.pdf (Japanese release)
Jorudan Co., Ltd. launched its “Traffic Guide” service for English speakers. It is provided as part of “Norikae-annai NEXT,” a public transportation guide. Using this new service, users can search train and airline information such as timetable, routes, connections and ticket prices in Japan using i-mode or EZWeb. Users also are able to search last train departing times by entering the station name. The monthly service fee is 210 yen.

11/5/2004
New service enables automatic clipping of face from pictures
http://www.gignosystem.com/pdf/20041104_photo_chara.pdf (Japanese release)
Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications and Gigno System Japan, Inc. began utilizing a “Face Clipping Engine” as part of its “Photo Chara Kobo” photo process service. “Face Clipping Engine” features face recognition technology developed by Nibun Vision. With this new technology, users no longer need to clip the face from original pictures to upload or create a character since the server automatically recognizes the face and clips it. The monthly service fee is 315 yen.

11/5/2004
New mobile site search engine using PC launched
http://www.fancs.com/news/200411051100.html (Japanese release)
Fan Communications launched a new mobile site search engine called “Ketai 55” on November 5. This new search engine enables PC users to search mobile sites and send URLs to their mobile phones. Users can create favorites as well as special corners such as “New Sites,” “Recommended Campaigns” and “Popular Application Ranking”. It also has a promotional feature that allows users to automatically enter drawings when they send URLs to their mobile phones.

11/9/2004
New chatting service enables sending of pictures
http://jig.jp/press041109.html (Japanese release)
jig.jp started a free chatting service called “jig sha chat” that enables users to send pictures taken by mobile phones. Using the service, users can upload their pictures to the server and save the data. Users also can create chat rooms and private chatting is available if they set up passwords. In addition, it has a feature that lets users know when they receive a new message via vibration or melody. This service is available for FOMA 900i and 505i series.

11/10/2004
Tower Records and two other companies jointly launch music portal site
http://www.towerrecords.co.jp/ (Japanese release)
Tower Records Japan Inc., Dwango Co., Ltd. and NMNL jointly launched a new music information portal site called “Tawa Reco Mix” on November 11. The site has three corners: “Site Mix”, “Shop Mix” and “Artist Mix.” “Site Mix” provides music information through Tower Records’ audition service and its online sales of CDs and DVDs. At “Shop Mix,” they are planning to conduct joint campaigns with stores. “Artist Mix” is a corner that introduces artists and allows users to listen to new records.

11/10/2004
56.9 percent of young girls have mobile phones
http://www.girlslab.com/release/release041110.pdf (Japanese release)
Girls Lab released a survey on mobile phone usage and handset preferences amongst 10-15 year old girls. According to the result, some 44.1 percent have their own mobile phones while some 12.8 percent share phones with their families. This is a 12.1 point jump from the previous year, indicating the fast spread of mobile phones amongst the younger generations. Regarding who is paying the usage fees, some 77.9 percent said, “Parents or family members pay it”. Also, some 91.5 percent will choose their next mobile phone because of “Cute color”, some 88.1 percent will choose because of “Wide variety of picture letter”, and some 85.1 percent will choose because of “Camera function.”

11/10/2004
Megasoft updates its housekeeping software for Felica and Edy users
http://www.megasoft.co.jp/publish/wagaya6_felica/ (Japanese release)
Megasoft Inc. released an updated version of its “Wagaya no Nandemo Jouhou 6 Housekeeping Software”, which enables to store usage records of i-mode’s Felica handsets or Edy’s Yumekobo. This PC-based software is geared toward householders wanting to keep track of daily activities such as bookkeeping, scheduling, recipes, etc. The new Felica accessible version is designed for use with Reader/Writer “PaSoRi,” sold by Sony. If you swipe the Felica handset or Edy card with Pasoli, the record is delivered to the software.

11/11/2004
KDDI and six radio broadcasters will test 1 segment broadcast
http://www.kddi.com/corporate/news_release/2004/1111/ (Japanese release)
KDDI and six radio broadcasters jointly announced they will start field tests for ground-wave digital radio broadcasting. This test will be conducted with PDA-based devices using VHF 7 ch. spectrum. The data transmission will be based on one segment of 330kbps as opposed to three segments tested by FM Tokyo and others. The device also equips KDDI’s airH data communication device by which users access related websites while listening to radio. Also, this trial will be broadcasting QR code with radio to enable a variety of additional services such as public invitation of certain concerts.

11/11/2004
Felica handset becomes house key
http://www.kesaka.net/pf0505.htm (Japanese release)
Kesaka System, Connect Technologies, Itochu Techno-Science Corporation and DoCoMo Kyushu started “Kesaka Service,” which enables users to use i-mode’s Felica handset as a house key. A newly built condominium in Fukuoka city already has adopted this new technology and was scheduled to accept those residents at the end of November. These residents do not have key cylinders; thereby, building owners do not have to change keys when they have new residents. They claim that it will offer better security to those residents as well.

11/11/2004
Yahoo Travel starts hotel reservation service for i-mode users
http://docs.yahoo.co.jp/info/pr/release/2004/1111b.html (Japanese release)
Yahoo Japan and Tabi-gator launched a new travel service enabling hotel reservations to be made through i-mode handsets as a part of Yahoo! Travel. Using this service, users can make reservations at some 7,500 hotels in Japan. Users can search hotels on locations, dates and names of hotels. Yahoo Japan is now considering offering this service to EZWeb and Vodafone Live users as well.

11/15/2004
Hitachi starts Kimekuru field test
http://www.hitachi.co.jp/New/cnews/month/2004/11/1115.html (Japanese release)
Hitachi started a field test - the “Kimekuru” service - that enables users to receive contents such as news or store information with users’ pre-programming set up. Kimekuru is a service that delivers information for specified places at specified times. Users can receive up to 14 types of news. In addition, using the GPS function of mobile phones, users can receive local information on nearby stores. Hitachi will conduct the test from November 20 to December 26 and have from 300 to 500 monitors.

11/15/2004
KDDI establishes new integrated support system
http://www.kddi.com/corporate/news_release/2004/1115/ (Japanese release)
KDDI established KDDI Mobile Solution Partner (KDDI-MSP), a partnership program for mobile related businesses, on November 16. KDDI will offer service development and sales support to content providers. The membership entry will be available at the KDDI-MSP website.

11/16/2004
Hitachi develops BREW 3.1-compliant user interface construction tool
http://www.hitachi-sk.co.jp/News/News287.html (Japanese release)
Hitachi Software Engineering developed a user-interface development tool called “anyWarp for BREW” for BREW 3.1. It will be sold to telecommunication providers and mobile phone manufacturers around the world. BREW is mainly used for contents such as games, but anyWarp for BREW also supports development of mobile phone menu screens and user interface. This development tool is used with Qualcomm’s development kit for mobile phone manufacturers.

11/16/2004
QUALCOMM Teams With Global Infrastructure Leaders to Develop CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A Network Solutions
http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/2004/041115_csm6800.html (English release)
Qualcomm Incorporated announced that major infrastructure vendors, including Airvana, Ericsson, Hitachi Ltd., Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nortel Networks and Samsung, have selected its Cell Site Modem (CSM) CSM6800 digital base band modem for infrastructure and test equipment to lead global efforts to drive adoption of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A. Qualcomm’s Technology Development Program — based on the CSM6800 device — is at the forefront of industry efforts to drive the next generation of wireless data solutions based on the global deployment of 1xEV-DO Rev. A. QUALCOMM’s technology program enables accelerated development of equipment system software and hardware in preparation for planned technology trials and commercialization of worldwide 1xEV-DO Rev. A technology solutions.

11/16/2004
NEC starts new service adapting NTT Docomo’s N900iL
http://www.nec.co.jp/press/ja/0411/1601.html (Japanese release)
NEC started offering “UNIVERGE FOMA Solution” for the DoCoMo N900iL wireless LAN/FOMA dual mode handset, focusing on business users. This new solution is compatible with NEC’s SIP based IP telephony server, “UNIVERGE SV700.” By using this, users can use VoIP inside the company and FOMA for outside telecommunications. It can transfer calls from inside to outside and vice versa. The system price is 1.425 million yen, which supports up to 100 users.

11/16/2004
Japan Telecom succeeds with broadband Internet connection test in moving train
http://www.japan-telecom.co.jp/ (Japanese release)
Japan Telecom Co., Ltd. completed a test of a wireless broadband Internet connection in a moving train (in cooperation of JR Hokkaido). It successfully connected using 802.11g wireless LAN in a train moving at 120km/h. The communication access speed was 8 to15 Mbps. If this technology is commercialized, it will be possible to offer wireless LAN hot spot services and distribute content in trains. As opposed to the method of using a satellite to connect to the Internet in moving vehicles, this test featured a number of access points installed in trains, tracks and stations. The access points carried out the handover of access between each cell. The company claims it will be more cost effective compared with the satellite access method. The company also says that it experienced a peak speed of 15Mbps at a moving speed of 500km/h in its laboratory.

11/16/2004
45 percent change ring tones once a month
http://www.info-plant.com/dl/research/mobile/2004/041116-1.pdf (Japanese release)
According to a survey conducted by Info Plant Co., Ltd. some 45 percent of mobile phone users change ring tones more than once a month and more than 80 percent of users have ring tones. The sampling of 23,093 users found that some 29.1 percent changed ring tones “once every 2-3 months”, 26.1 percent changed “once a month”, 15.1 percent changed “once every 2 weeks” and 15.1 percent changed “once every 6 months”. By age group, younger generations tend to change ring tones more often. Some 59.4 percent of males under 19 years of age and 66.4 percent of females under 19 change ring tones more than once a month.

11/18/2004
DoCoMo develops common software platform for 3G FOMA handsets
http://www.nttdocomo.com/ (English release)
DoCoMo has developed a common software platform for 3G FOMA handsets. DoCoMo will license the platform to handset vendors, aiming to support the development of high-quality FOMA devices with improved time-to-market and cost-effectiveness. The development of software for mobile handsets has become increasingly time consuming due to the introduction of highly sophisticated services and functions. In response, DoCoMo will offer manufacturers a common software platform to support their development of distinctive application software and thereby differentiate their products. The development platform is compatible with both the Linux and Symbian operating systems. The Linux version was jointly developed with NEC Corporation and Panasonic Mobile Communications, and the Symbian version was jointly developed with Fujitsu Corporation.

11/25/2004
NEC develops high quality image delivery device
http://www.nec.co.jp/press/ja/0411/2503.html (Japanese release)
NEC has developed and started marketing “MobileStream,” which enables the delivery of high quality live images and voice data without relay mobiles. This device uses the H.264 codec of the FOMA 3G communication platform. This development is for television broadcasters, municipal governments and businesses. MobileStream consists of three devices: the mobile high definition image delivering device, a band ring router and the H.264 software viewer. The compact system measures 294x150x253mm, weighs 4.5kg (including battery). Prices start at 7,350,000 yen.

11/29/2004
Mobile Contents Forum releases Mobile White Page
http://www.impressholdings.com/release/2004/044/ (Japanese release)
The Mobile Contents Forum released “Keitai White Page 2005” on December 8. According to this white page, a survey of 3G users found that 22,600,000 use a mobile IP connection (31.3 percent are using a mobile IP connection) and 2,380,000 of these users have fixed-fee-based contracts (3.3 percent of mobile IP connection service users), as of the end of September. The Mobile Contents Forum predicts that the numbers of mobile IP connection users will increase to 79,110,000 and the ratio of 3G users will become as high as 51.4 percent (40,690,000) by March 2006.

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Statistics

The following are recent statistics for the Japanese mobile market.

*Note: The above figures for PDC (2G) of NTT DoCoMo Group has included the number of packet communication service like Dopa single service starting this month, therefore comparisons to previous data may seem high.

(Unit: Number of People)

Reference:

http://www.tca.or.jp/japan/database/daisu/yymm/0411matu.html (Japanese only)

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