If you do, you should read this little article:
DoCoMo 2.0 — Message Lost in Translation?
On Monday 23 April NTT DoCoMo unveiled their latest 3G handsets, the 904i-series, at a press conference held here in downtown Tokyo.
WWJ pointed to this webcast of their presentation, which clearly stated from the very beginning the new “DoCoMo 2.0” campaign theme.
We shouldn’t really be surprised that the main message, from Japan’s dominant mobile operator, contained in the announcement somehow managed to get 2.0 attention from the mainstream media. With few exceptions, the entire tech web focused on the motion-sensor for gaming application. Few if any noted how ironic it was that while the company insisted it was going to “focus on offering unique applications and services that will be difficult for the competition to duplicate” they were in fact introducing a functionality which was originally made available in Japan [video here] by Vodafone and Sharp over two years ago.
Perhaps the gritty details — such as the fact that all five new models will (of course) ship pre-installed with the Osaifu-Keitai FeliCa mobile wallet together with related security services — are less appealing to the overseas media than Nokia’s recent announcement that they, too, have the mobile wallet urge?
To be sure, there were a few interesting new offerings in Natsuno-san’s presentation, such as the 2-in-1 dual-identity option and flat-rate access to Napster’s full music library service. However, one of the main observations we take away from this news is that the rest of the world still tends to focus only on the most quirky headlines (wait until the MSM find out about this one).
Source: Wireless Watch Japan
Dolce and Gabbana is selling DoCoMo’s gold plated RAZR phones in their retails stores now until the end of May this year. It’s uhm…really garish in my opinion because the phone is SO bling! The gold phone is priced at 75,000 yen each and it comes with a D&G engraving on the cover. Go figure, otherwise D&G won’t be selling them in their glass shelves.
If you buy the gold Razr phone you’ll get a cool looking box, an eel skin cover, a strap with a D&G logo on it, some pictures to look at on the phone’s screen and, best of all, “four original ring tones… selected by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.” What’s their taste in music like, anyone?
Source: Metropolis
This FOMA phone is on sale now and it comes in 3 different colors; blue, red and white. The phone comes with a lot of functions, but not too many that we let it sit and collect dust. It’s a functional phone that is useful. This 102g phone is half your palms size and is as thin as a shoe string fry comes with a 3.2mega pixel phone and external memory.
Price may vary from place to place.
Source: NTT Docomo
These two unrelated giants have seemingly come together. It’s old news but it’s still interesting anyway. They’re not making a phone together, thank god. Imagine Ronald McDonald shuffling about with his big red shoe holding a red and yellow striped phone with a big M on the back?
Beastly.
The agreement between the two is for the promotion of Docomo’s IC card cash system in McDonald’s restaurant.
Source: Gizmodo
BlackBerry 7250
I love BlackBerry smart phones – thing is, they’re not just phones, it’s a phone-organizer-email device-web browser all in one. It’s like the PDA but way better. You can’t readily find them in Asia, but they have stomped over Europe, US and Canada (its country of origin) and are selling very, very well especially to people who depends on mobile/web communication who is on the go.
It’s therefore, great news that DoCoMo, Japan’s largest telecommunication operator, has brought the BlackBerry into the Far East. They are partnering BlackBerry to bring consumers a GSM / WCMDA “worldphone” versions of the addictive handhelds. And the agreement was set in stone last Autumn in 2006. Read more about the partnership here and here.
It’s undeniable that BlackBerries smart phones will definitely be larger than the usual Japanese phones (not to mention slightly heavier), some questions have arised regarding its sellability in Japan. In my opinion as a meddler of BlackBerry (for a few hours), I think it’ll be just fine – It will sell in Japan, especially when it’s comparatively small to have a phone, a web mail device, an organizer all into one and being the tech savvy people that most Japanese people are, they will most probably fall for the Blackberry’s usability and style.
It’s latest BlackBerry Pearl is sleek and professional (and the smallest Smart Phone in the world). It’s most useful for executives on the move and what’s more, the fact that Blackberry Pearl is the smallest SmartPhone would appeal to the Japanese crowd almost instantly.
I guess a lot will still remain to be seen with time since the deal between DoCoMo and Blackberry was just quite recent. I would be curious to know how the BlackBerry is going to pack thousands of keys necessary to represent all those Japanese glyphs on their interface.
Mobile phones, or keitai, are obviously a big fashion accessory in Japan. One of the best selling phones of the last year, the au KDDI Neon was perhaps a bit under-developed in the amazing-only-in-Japan-technological-features department. But it was, quite frankly, beautiful, which is why it sold out.
Now Mitsubishi (through DoCoMo) have released the FOMA D702iF which is meant to have everything that a woman could want from her keitai. The feminine pastel colours complements the skin on the hand, while a special alarm keeps track of the female monthly cycle.
Yes, you read that correctly.
There’s also the special design, which includes soft and smooth contours and a small shape to avoid chipping fingernails. The small, palm-size and marquee cut is also meant to enhance to look of a woman’s hands.
The phone was designed by renown fashion designer Momoko Ikuta. They are available in Coral Coral, Green Air, White Sand and Lilac Mirage.
I really should have learnt by now never to be shocked by the phones available in Japan.
Links:
Metropolis
Mitsubishi Electric – Japanese only
Finally! Somebody creates a phone that is safe in the hands of klutzes everywhere! Sony Ericsson in conjunction with DoCoMo have released the SO902iWP+ 3G phone and it’s really waterproof!
Image from Akihabara News
At the recent Wireless Japan expo, they demonstrated just how waterproof the phone is. You could even call the phone while it was floating in the tank. Unfortunately, the phone doesn’t have Bluetooth (strange?) so you couldn’t answer it unless you were in there with the phone.
So, if you tend to drop your phone in the toilet, pool, coffee or if you’re James Bond, you might want to consider investing in this phone. No word on whether it will be available outside Japan.
Link:
Akihabara News
Jon at PingMag has written an article comparing the most popular phones in Japan with the most popular in the West. Japan (and maybe South Korea) is easily the mobile phone (or cell phone, if you’re that way inclined) capital of the world. They aren’t just phones. Nowadays, they’re also TVs, your train ticket, business card as well as all the functions known to the West, like email, mp3 player and personal organiser.
I like the phones in Japan. Australia is usually about 3 years behnd the rest of the world technologically, so there’s no way my old candybar style Nokia can compare to what can be found here. An interesting point to note: nearly all the phones here are flip phones. It’s gotten to the stage where it’s embarrassing to take out my top-of-the-Australian-line phone out, because it’s just plain ugly and featureless compared to the phones you can find here.
I think I’ll have to get myself one of these phones soon. The one with digital TV looks tempting.
Over on the Japan Media Review website, Kenji Kohiyama, Professor at the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University, examines the “Meaning” and the “Future” of Keitai. Author of the book Keitai, he seeks to understand the culture of mobile phones in Japan, their multimedia use and their societal impact. Not really “fun” per se, but an interesting read if you are into mobile phones and Japan (otherwise why would you be reading this anyway?).
The keitai (mobile phone) is like a toy box with lots of different media stuffed inside where one can pull out the one of your choice as if from a magician’s hat.
In this book I hope to look at the meaning of these and their interest they bring and to gain some understanding on these issues. For this reason, I will take up each of the various media that are in a keitai, the very thing that our country is leading the world in promoting, and investigate their purpose and potential.
The Meaning of Keitai
The Future of Keitai
I stumbled upon this upon my usual goss-search. The japanese forum post isn’t very discript, however this is reported to be the N902i. [See full image]
From first glance, it’s appears to have a double-hinge, something Sony Ericsson demonstrated in some prototypes a little while ago. It also appears to be the standard 2.4 inch, stereo speakers handset with a camera.
One thing to note is that the keypad has no Japanese characters on it… interesting.
- 
