AuthenTec, the “world’s leading provider of fingerprint sensors and solutions” has announced that Fujitsu (OTCPK: FJTSY)’s new FOMA F906i ultra-thin world phone has integrated an AuthenTec fingerprint sensor for Power of Touch(R) features including security, convenience, personalization and navigation.

The feature-rich F906i, recently offered to subscribers of Japan’s leading wireless carrier NTT DOCOMO (NYSE: DCM), utilizes AuthenTec’s new small form factor AES1710 low power fingerprint sensor. While millions of NTT DOCOMO’s mobile phones have incorporated an AuthenTec sensor to authorize contactless mobile payments and for protecting access to stored files and the user’s personal information, this is the first time a Fujitsu phone has added the benefits of AuthenTec’s TrueNav technology.

The F906i features 3G/GSM international roaming, GPS map navigation, HSDPA, “One-Segment” mobile TV, DCMX(R) mobile credit card and iD(TM) mobile credit payments, full wide VGA LCD screen. The F906i also features two cameras (3.2 megapixel and 320 kilopixel) and enables access to diverse video content and services, including DOCOMO’s Music & Video Channel which provides more than 100 channels of downloadable broadcasts spanning 14 genres.

AuthenTec’s AES1710 fingerprint sensor 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.

Crumbs! Well the technology sounds good, phones sounds nice – from my experience of touchpads with finger recognition, the key thing is ease of use – the sensor needs to get it right first time every time, else it can become an annoyance. Everything above though points to a great system!

Yesterday, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) announced that it has established DOCOMO China Co., Ltd. as a wholly owned subsidiary in Shanghai, China. The new office is expected to begin operating from the end of July, as soon as the necessary governmental and commercial approvals have been obtained.

According to the official release, DOCOMO China will focus mainly on “providing mobile solutions for corporate customers, especially locally based Japanese companies.”

Now, everything would be fine and we wouldn’t suspect a thing if this happened last year. However, with Chinese telecom industry in the midst of consolidation, we’re sure DoCoMo looks forward to acquire, invest or partner with some of the players. The leading Japanese mobile operator certainly have the expertise needed… As usual, we’re watching closely.

As a response to requests from individuals and small to midsize businesses, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) is launching BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Internet Service for direct connection to the Internet without the need for a dedicated server on August 1st.

The device that will “do the work” is the BlackBerry 8707h, which will be sold through the mobile operators’s online shop, corporate business division and DOCOMO Shops’ corporate business sections on August 1.

The BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) will cost 3,045 yen (around $29) per month with taxes. The FOMA basic monthly fee and normal packet charges will apply separately.

In addition, DoCoMo is preparing a discount packet-billing plan to be launched on September 1. The so called BlackBerry Data Transmission Package will enable users to transmit up to 80,000 packets of data per month for a flat charge of 1,680 yen (about $16). Data exceeding this limit will be charged at 0.0525 yen per packet.

The carrier will demonstrate the new BlackBerry Internet Service during Wireless Japan 2008 at Tokyo Big Sight from July 22nd to 24th.

[image from FarEastGizmos]

For the average person, the prospect of controlling your mobile phone’s music player and camera with a flick of the eye-balls is just a ridiculously lazy alternative to a swift finger jab or two. For the disabled, however, eye-controlled mobile tech opens the doors to a whole new world of productivity and independence.

NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), always pushing the innovation envelope in the mobile field, is working on just the sort of eye-tracking tech that could eventually give disabled persons a working alternative to button-based handsets. The Frontier Technology Research Group, headed by Dr. Masaaki Fukumoto, is a research arm within NTT DoCoMo that explores new technologies – especially in “wearable computing.”

With the aid of the cumbersome-looking headgear that you see pictured above, Fukumoto is able to control a music player with eye movements alone. The head-mounted contraption tracks eye movement by way of the electrical impulses that are used by the brain to control the eyes. And, the technology can even be used to actively aim a cameraphone’s camera at a specific object, say a QR code, and take a picture.

Combined with the carrier’s other research initiatives like UbiButton, the wristwatch that detects finger movements (which has possible applications as a virtual keyboard), and the Yubi-Wa, a wearable device that turns the fingers in to a cellphone, DoCoMo is poised to redefine what we have come to expect from mobile devices and how we interact with our environment.

Commercial applications for Fukumoto’s eye-tracking technology are a few years off, and we’re looking forward to doing away with these awkward appendages called fingers.

NTT DoCoMo

Thanks, Ami! 

Apologies for the shocking pun in the title – just for a microsecond, I was feeling a bit funny…

Synaptics announced today that its ClearPad™ solution is driving the interactive touchscreen in NTT DOCOMO (NYSE: DCM)’s new Sharp SH906i clamshell handset. The SH906i uses Synaptics’ ClearPad technology to enable finger-input character recognition capabilities for Japanese character entry. The combination of the SH906i character recognition software and Synaptics ClearPad solution improves usability for regions with more complex alphabets. Capacitive sensing-enabled text entry allows the user to access and control any number of applications and menus on a handheld device in an efficient and intuitive manner — it is fast, easy to use, and accurate without a stylus. Synaptics’ ClearPad sensors recognize a variety of gesture input for an effortless user interface. OEMs can customize their device user interfaces using Synaptics’ growing gesture library, which includes gestures such as flick and pinch. The SH906i, for example, uses flick to flip though channels and adjust volume on its mobile-television application.

Hmm, well nothing revolutionary in terms of touch control, save for perhaps the ability to deliver Japanese character entry – something I imagine that would have taken some coding to enable!

[Via: 3G.co.uk]

It’s not just the Chinese telecom industry that’s consolidating. Large operators constantly eye emerging markets for expansion. That being said, Japanese leading operator NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) has sealed a deal to buy the 30% stake of Bangladesh’s third largest mobile operator Aktel, which has 7.4 million subscribers as of end Q1 2008.

According to Reuters, DoCoMo has beaten competition from Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), and will pay about $425 million for the 30% stake. The remaining 70% of Aktel is owned by Telekom Malaysia International. Bangladesh is the sixth fastest-growing market in Asia Pacific region, with a year-on-year connections growth rate of 60% as of end of the first quarter of this year.

Earlier in 2008, DoCoMo has raised its stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone and bought a stake in U Mobile, an unlisted firm partly owned by Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan.

UPDATE: DoCoMo ended up paying $350 million, 18% less than anticipated, for Aktel stake. (Bloomberg)

[Via: Reuters]

Napster has announced that its unlimited over-the-air mobile subscription service in Japan will now include unlimited access to digital video service to complement its music subscription service. The new video service called Napster Clips puts high-quality music videos into the palms of purchasers of DoCoMo’s new N906iL handset.

Napster Clips is a broadband video service that users can view from a full-size browser on the N906iL handset over either the NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) 3G/FOMA mobile network or via NTT DoCoMo’s new “Home U” service — a high-speed wireless LAN connection via home broadband network. Also, for the first 20,000 applicants of the N906iL onefone handset customers, NTT DoCoMo will include a free “Comes With Napster Music and Video” 6-month subscription to Napster’s unlimited over the air Napster To Go audio and video music subscription service.

In addition to viewing high-quality digital music videos and receiving full-length songs directly on their mobile handsets, when subscribers use the Napster To Go service to download songs without connecting to a PC those tracks will be “bookmarked” and automatically added to their PC collection. Furthermore, users of the Napster To Go service are able to view Playlists from their PCs and download them directly to their handsets over-the-air.

NTT DOCOMO (NYSE: DCM) has announced the new 906i and 706i series, with a total of 19 handsets and 64 body colours!!

The 906i series’ eight handsets are equipped for all-round functions, including 3G/GSM international roaming, upgraded GPS location information, HSDPA, “One-Segment” mobile TV, 2 in 1® (combines capabilities of two phones in one), DCMX® mobile credit card and iD™ mobile credit payments, VGA LCD screen and voice-to-text translation for Chinese, English and Japanese.

The 906i series enables full-spec enjoyment of diverse video content and services, including DOCOMO’s Music & Video Channel, which provides more than 100 channels of downloadable broadcasts spanning 14 genres, and the new video portal on the i-mode™ top screen, which offers a wide array of free, searchable videos and clips. The handsets come with upgraded full browsers to play Windows Media® Video (all models except F906i) and Flash® 8 (all models except P906i) content commonly available on PC websites, and can upload movies and images of up to 2MB.

The new 706i series, 11 handsets in all, boasts slim, sophisticated designs and compatibility with “One-Segment” mobile TV. The 706i meets diverse needs with a wide-ranging lineup, including the Extra-Slim One-Seg Phone (slimmest One-Seg phone available), the Waterproof One-Seg Phone, the Wellness phone that monitors diet and health, and the enhanced Easy-to-Use phone with improved user interface. Some models are also compatible with advanced services such as HSDPA and 3G/GSM international roaming.

Comment: talk about going for the whole-shot! Across the series of devices, I think every major Mobile tech is in there, from mobile-wallet to mobile TV, to fitness monitoring! The Japanese penchant for the clamshell device is certainly in evidence too….

[Via: 3G.co.uk]

The latest iPhone rumors to hit the grapevine seems to indicate that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) could finally break in to the attractive Korean and Japanese wireless markets. Previous reports indicated that Japan would not be getting the iPhone anytime soon, seeing as how the nation’s 3G network did not mesh well with the current iPhone. But, Apple is reportedly looking to bring their next-generation iPhone to both Korea and Japan in a joint-launch on Korea Telecom Freetel (KTF) and NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) (or is it NTT docomo now?). The 3G iPhone would work just fine on the 3G networks in both countries, which makes a good case for the Apple handset to crack the Asian market.

Given the Asian countries’ advanced 3G networks and more feature-rich handsets, it remains to be seen how well the iPhone will fare the Pacific Rim. Of course, the apple of Apple’s eye is still China. With more wireless subscribers than there are people in the whole of the US, China’s mobile market is a potentially lucrative market that can’t be ignored.

We’ll see if Korea and Japan welcome the iPhone with as much enthusiasm as the US did on its initial launch. Chances are, it won’t.

[Via: Fortune]

When you’re in Japan, handset makers are fine-tuning their products to meet the high-tech needs of advanced Japanese mobile phone users. That being said, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) announced it is working alongside LG to develop the new Prada phone.

From what we can tell, aside from the 7.2Mbps HSDPA support, the device is pretty much the same as the original Prada phone, boasting 2 megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach lens and 3-inch touchscreen. Hopefully, we’re missing something and the new Prada phone will also come with some other, still unannounced features like let’s say WiFi support.

Interested users will have to wait till June, when DoCoMo vowed to release the device.