While it might feel like it’s taking awhile for the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 9000 to hit American shores, Japan isn’t slated to get the Bold until early 2009 through NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM). The orient has proven to be a tricky market for RIM, with language, cultural and competitive barriers to overcome, but the BlackBerry Bold is a big player, and RIM VP Don Morrison seems to think the Japanese enterprise space is “an essentially still wide open market” ripe for the picking once localization is completed. The Bold is packing Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G, a HVGA screen, full QWERTY keypad in a candybar format, and could potentially set the foundation for RIM’s other upcoming models (like the Flip Pearl, the new Curve, and the Storm) in Japan.

[via Reuters]

Fujitsu (OTCPK: FJTSY) has been chosen by NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) to be a supplier of the core networking systems (EPC, or “Evolved Packet Core”) for the next-gen LTE (4G) network. This follows a 2006 deal for Fujitsu to develop and manufacture the wireless base stations and handsets for the network. The new systems will integrate with Nokia (NYSE: NOK) hardware and software being installed there too.

These sorts of stories are interesting enough in their own right, but the real story is who is getting in there early and getting their networking kit deployed – in this case you’ll notice a traditional Japanese vendor in Fujitsu, but also Nokia working hard to establish a foothold.

The testing these two companies will do by deploying these networks is invaluable for further sales – after all, the best testing you can do is “real-world” – in this case, to sell it to customer #1, fix any bugs, and then replicate, replicate, replicate!!

[Via: Cellular News]

Yep, that’s if Sharp, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), and Nissan have anything to do with it! Sharp and DoCoMo have apparently developed a Mobile phone that also works as an electronic key for Nissan cars. It incorporates Nissan’s “intelligent key system”, which is standard on some existing cars – something like 950,000 of them since 2002.

We’ve heard of lots to do with contactless payments with NFC, but this is a whole different kind of wireless utility – and once which I would snap up in an instant were it an option for me!

It’s understood that commercial deployment could be in 2009 – and I think given the companies involved, it’s fair to say that will be in Japan.

[Via: Cellular News]

Adult services to be blocked for youngsters in Japan

NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), and four other Japanese Mobile OpCos, have announced they will start to block access to certain Internet content for subs younger than 18. That content will be assumed to be things like (obviously) adult sites, and dating sites. However, the block will be able to be lifted by the parents of said younger subscribers.

I have to admit I found this all slightly surprising – there is a well established (although largely hidden) adult entertainment “sector” in Japan (like most other countries), and these things are self-perpetuating, through any channel(s) that can carry them – given Japan is SO advanced in the area of mobile interweb, I couldn’t envisage this kind of action having any effect whatsoever.

But, having said that, if moves are made to protect the minors in any country, that’s a good thing.

[Via: redorbit.com / Image via: crave.cnet.co.uk]

 NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) has announced that it will stop accepting customer applications for it’s 2G “Mova” service from 30/11. It has also announced that it is waiving charges for those porting to it’s 3G “FOMA” service.

NTT has said it is eventually looking to shut down the Mova service, and concentrate on FOMA (and I would assume it’s 4G-LTE counterpart).

Unlike Europe, this speaks volumes about the quality of coverage that the 3G networks have in Japan. I wouldn’t like to guess about the amount of at least partly-2G handsets in the Euro market, and hence when any 2G networks might be realistically shut down – but it won’t be soon…!

[Via: DMAsia.com]

Well it’s not all bad news in the financial stakes for companies in the Mobile Industry. Following Sharp’s bad news, and O2’s mixed news, comes pretty good news for NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) – their profits are up 41.3% in the quarter just ended!

DoCoMo is attributing this rise to both strong sales of handsets, and an increase in their subscriber numbers. In terms of money, this meant net profit was at 173.5 billion yen ($1.6 billion).

[Via: telecomasia.net]

Japan has long been known as the land where advanced mobile phones pack features that would have the average American dizzy with wonderment. Japanese handset makers have been concentrating on stuffing as much techno-gadgetry in to their dumb-phones in an attempt to woo as many Japanese tech-heads as possible.

But, there’s a problem. Japan has seen handset sales plummet 20% as the island-nation’s largest wireless carrier, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), pulls back on handset subsidies. NTT DoCoMo reported a 41% increase in mobile phone profits, which is directly tied to their decision to charge more per handset. So, it’s not all bad news.

But, the Japanese handset market’s reduced consumption of new cellphones could point to an even more pressing issue – feature-phones packed to the gills with, well, features, have become saturated in Japan.

As smaller handset makers dumped R&D resources in to developed the latest and greatest feature phones to attract customers, the market has become so saturated with cellphone choices that Japanese population has been spread thin. So thin, in fact, that few handset manufacturers have been able to capture enough of the Japanese market-base to recoup their R&D costs.

We’re likely to see a significant shake-up in the Japanese handset market. Smaller handset makers may need to combine operations in order to stay alive in an increasingly more competitive market. And, with Samsung and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) breaking in to the game, Japanese companies are going to be hard pressed to turn a profit.

[Via: MocoNews]

Japan’s NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) and AT&T (NYSE: T) announced that the extension of a 3G network to all principal islands in Hawaii has been completed. Using AT&T’s 3G network, DoCoMo customers now have access to data and voice roaming services in the main populated areas of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kauai.

NTT DoCoMo began providing 3G roaming services on Oahu in October of last year and then extended the services to other islands including Hawaii and Maui.

Even before that, in July, the Japanese mobile operator helped AT&T build the 3G network in the summery U.S. state.

[Via: slashphone]

During the Wireless Japan 2008 conference held this July 22 to 24, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) exhibited its intelligent Li-ION battery for mobile phones. The idea is to detect troubles within the Li-ION battery and relay it to the user. For that purpose, a 8-bit microcomputer has been embedded onto the pack and is responsible for monitoring such battery conditions as current, voltage, temperature, state of deterioration, remaining battery level. Once a problem is detected, user would get an information projected on screen.

Best of all, the battery’s status is stored on the battery itself, so even if a user change (buy used) phones, he/she can still view prior recorded data.

In the development process, NTT DoCoMo has been working alongside Mitsumi Electric. The leading Japanese mobile operator plans to use the new intelligent batteries on its next year’s phone models.

[Via: GearLog]

As a very quick follow up to the story I wrote on Authentec’s advanced fingerprint reader/navigation sensor, I have now had some nice images through from their PR division – which show the sensor in place, and the device in which it is deployed (the DoCoMo F906i):

Authentec’s product is the AES1710, which:

“….is based on the Company’s patented TruePrint technology, which reads below the surface of the skin to the live layer where a person’s true fingerprint resides. This unique subsurface approach enables AuthenTec sensors to read virtually every fingerprint, every time — a critical requirement in any fingerprint-enabled device. Other device features include TrueNav menu navigation, TrueFinger anti-spoofing security, and TrueMatch pattern matching to ensure the industry’s highest level of security, usability and convenience.”

As I said before, some nice tech here, now we just need it in European and US devices…