Four Japanese mobile operators will spend 1 trillion yen ($10 billion) during the next five years to build a next-gen mobile network with faster Internet speeds.

According to Nikkei - NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), KDDI, Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) and Emobile will apply to the government for licenses for the new standard (LTE?) by May 7. DoCoMo plans to launch the new network during next year, while three other players will do the same between 2011 and 2012.

As for the rest of the world, we can only hope carriers elsewhere will follow the Japanese example and at least start planning their networks during the next year.

[Via: Bloomberg]

Japan’s KDDI is getting on the eco-bandwagon by introducing a solar-powered, waterproof handset manufactured by Sharp. With only 10 minutes in the sun, you can squeeze out one minute of talk time and two hours of standby. KDDI beats Samsung’s Blue Earth to the market, but not ZTE’s Coral. Still, it’s a slick-looking handset, and combined with waterproofing, it’s potentially a great choice for the outdoorsy types, although some extra ruggedization would make it even more ideal for self-sufficiency. Expect more eco-friendly phones from KDDI’s Green Road Project lineup this summer.

[KDDI via CrunchGear]

Cry if you’re not in Japan. KDDI scored exclusive deal with Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) to carry the company’s Japan-only S001 Cyber-shot handset. The super powerful slider looks great, and among other things comes with a large 3.3-inch WVGA (480×800) OLED screen ensuring beautiful colors, 8.1 megapixel camera with auto-focus, flash, smile shutter and protective lens cover. In addition, there’s 3G radio on board, Bluetooth, as well as GPS receiver. We couldn’t find WiFi on the list, but I guess that doesn’t mean much when you’re connected via cellular towers, like all the time.

As I said, it’s a Japan only device, which they [Japanese] can grab in either black, pink or green. All versions rock as you can see from the gallery bellow. I wonder when will Sony Ericsson figure we want such devices in the Western hemisphere, too…

[Via: Unwired View]

Hitachi’s got some nifty dual-hinged, TV-enabled handset called the Wooo Ketai H001 now available, supporting 3D video viewing. You’ll probably need some big goofy glasses to make that work, but hey, you can pull off anything in Japan. KDDI is also showing off a bunch of other new handsets for their spring ‘09 collection , but this looks like the most interesting. Full specs include:

• 51 mm x 111 mm x 18.6 mm, 145 G
• 220 minutes talk time
• 260 hours standby
• 3.1 inch, 3D TFT display
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and 8X zoom
• 30 FPS VGA video recording
• 500 MB internal memory with microSD support
• Bluetooth, Infrared
• 1SEG TV tuner

[via The Register]

Usually we see ultra hi-end handsets hitting portfolios of Japanese mobile operators and seeing the tiny Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) Walkman Xmini hitting KDDI’s offering came as a surprise. It’s far from being a Japan-only ultimate handset with 8 megapixel camera and WVGA screen. Rather it’s a simplistic music-centric phone that seems designed for those that want to combine their Walkman MP3 player with a regular feature phone, but don’t like the bulkiness factor. That being said, the tiny Walkman Xmini sports a QVGA (320×240 pixels) screen, 4GB of on-board memory and dedicated music control keys. It measures 75×44x18 mm and it’s available in multiple colors to appeal to broader audience…

And that’s about all we can tell about the Xmini. We like it - in one sense, it’s like the Nintendo Wii of mobile phones. It’s not the features where the Xmini competes, but the overall concept. Any thoughts?

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

In an ever growing battle of Japanese mobile operators, KDDI au is teaming up with Louis Vuitton to provide its customers an additional content free of charge — beautiful standy screens designed by Louis Vuitton. In order to grab these wallpapers, KDDI subscribers should snap an appropriate QR code and they’ll receive graphics designed by the famous French designers instantly.

Guess the fact that all three major carriers in Japan — DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank (OTCPK: SFTBF) — all offer great devices, prompted one of them to somehow differentiate its offering. Not exactly something that would made me switch a carrier, but then again I’m not a fashionista myself…

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

Again and again we see super-cool phones coming from the Land of the rising Sun. Why handset makers don’t bring those babies to the western hemisphere is beyond me. I’m sure many IntoMobile readers share our passion for high-end phones, jam-packed with all the latest technologies. Anyway, let’s briefly introduce KDDI’s latest collection…

Read the full article »

KDDI Corp has reported a 27% gain in profit for Q3 2008, and remains on track to reach its full-year forecast of $4.4 billion. The company earned 138.5 billion yen ($1.4 billion) for the quarter.

Wow! good numbers!

The full-year forecast is apparently below analysts expectations, but nonetheless it is still a good result in the face of what is going on with many economies currently. The reason behind the profits boost, is at least partly due to KDDI switching from handset subsidies to charging more for the handset (with resulting cheaper calls/tariffs).

There has been a slowing of handset sales, but, on the flipside, subsidy payments to handset vendors have dropped greatly. I wonder if we’ll see this widespread in Europe in not so very long? Already some operators have SIM-only tariffs, and many have introduced 18 months contracts as standard, so what’s next - BYOM (bring your own mobile)??

[Via: telecomasia.net]

The last go at cell phone companions left a lot to be desired, but Japanese carrier KDDI still has hope. The latest from their lab is an e-paper tablet which wires images via infrared stored on your mobile to a full 13.1″ display. It takes about 12 seconds to load each page (which can be rendered in full colour), so it might not be so helpful for, say, flipping through photo albums or the like, but enterprise applications for finance and insurance are apparently ripe for this sort of full, secure viewing option. Something in this form factor for text alone would be great if they could cut down the transmission time, especially for e-mail-heavy devices like BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM). Combined with their 3D mobile LCD screen, KDDI has proven that they’re willing to think outside the box, but whether or not they’ll actually be able to sell some of these innovations is another question altogether.

[TechOn via Endgadget]

The folks at KDDI have started showing off a new prototype LCD display targetted for use on mobile phones. The new display will be capable of showing 3D images. The display interlaces two images together… one image for the left eye, and one for the right. With the 2 images in a slightly different position, the stereoscoping LCD display tricks your eye into thinking there’s a real 3D image right in front of them. KDDI demonstrated a prototype at a resolution of 480×800.

Imagine watching that sunday night football game on your mobile device…. in 3D!? Cool! Something about this screams ‘Back to the Future‘ to me for some reason… Great Scott!

[Via: MobileMentalism]