IntoMobile » KDDI

Bundle of New Phones Coming to Japan from KDDI

Simon Sage — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:48:55 +0000

Thirteen impressive new phones are coming down the pipe for Japanese service provider KDDI. Here’s the breakdown:

Casio Exilim Keitei CA003: 12 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, autofocus, image stablizer, and 20 images/second rapid shot
Sharp Aquos Shot SH003: 12 megapixel camera, FM transmitter, transfer and view Blu-Ray movies
Sharp Aquos Shot SH006: 12 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, transfer and view Blu-Ray movies
Casio Exilim Keitei CA004: 8 megapixel camera with face detection, autofocus, and VGA video recording
Sharp SH004: 8 megapixel camera with noise reduction and low-light filter; low-power mode and call noise-cancellation
Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) Bravia U1: 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and image stabilization; transfer and view Blu-Ray movies; waterproof
Kyocera (NYSE: KYO) SA001: 3.2 megapixel camera with image stabilization; 14.7mm thin closed
Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) T003: 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, face detection, and image stabilization; waterproof
Sharp SH005: 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and image stabilization; transfer and view Blu-Ray movies; waterproof
Sony Ericsson S002: 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus; GSM support
Sony Ericsson Urbano Barone: 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and image stabilization; large keys for the elderly; transfer and view Blu-Ray movies
Kyocera Mobile Easy K004: 2 megapixel camera with autofocus; easy-to-use UI
Kyocera Mamorino: Security-centric, helps parents keep tabs on kids; waterproof

Oh yeah, and the vast majority have WVGA displays and infrared support. Man, it’s a whole other universe over in Japan. The Bravia-branded phone is pretty slick, and the only other time we’ve seen optical zoom on a 12 megapixel cameraphone was on the Samsung W880. Overall, a solid winter lineup from KDDI – I just wish we had something comparable over here.

[KDDI via MobileCrunch]

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Motorola scores a big deal with KDDI to help the carrier build LTE network

Dusan Belic — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:05:35 +0000

Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s handsets unit may be suffering heavily these days, but their infrastructure business is a different story. On that note, the American company announced that they will help KDDI develop and implement LTE network, including RAN/base stations.

The Japanese carrier will deploy its LTE network in both 1.5GHz and 800MHz bands, and plans to offer commercial LTE services by December 2012, following a series of trials scheduled to begin in mid 2010.

Commenting on the news, Motorola Wireless Networks’ Bruce Brda said: “We are honored to be selected by our long-time customer KDDI to team with them in developing an innovative solution for their networking needs. Motorola is committed to bringing LTE to the market and delivering flexible solutions that help customers like KDDI accelerate the delivery of next-generation wireless access services in the most cost-effective manner possible.”

For the record, KDDI and Motorola have been building networks together in Japan for 20 years, and have introduced Japan’s first CDMA network “back in the days”…

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Japanese operator KDDI adds three more funky devices to their au Design Project lineup

Stefan Constantinescu — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:27:05 +0000

The au Design Project was created by Japanese operator KDDI in May 2001 because customers complained that they’re tired of seeing the same form factors, over and over again, with minor differences based on color and materials. They showed off three prototypes at launch, the info.bar, rotary, and wearable, and after much pressure they launched a device based on the info.bar concept in October 2003. Since then the au Design Project has been introducing more concepts and products. It’s been so successful that recently the infobar, talby, neon, and “media skin” designs have been added to a permanent exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Today three models have been added to the range, designed by Yayoi Kusuma, named “Happiness with Dots (pictured below),” “Doggie Ring-Ring (picture after the jump)” and “The groovy Hand Bag for Space Travel (pictured above).” You’ve got to love that. In Europe we’re still remembering 4 digit numbers, in America they have words with missing vowels such as RAZR, and in Japan they have whole phrases. The devices are going to go on sale July 30th and range in price from $1,000 to $10,000, with highly limited availability.

[Via: Wireless Watch Japan]

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Japanese mobile porn consumption strains wireless data networks

Will Park — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:57:33 +0000

Porn. Go anywhere in the world and you’ll find porn going strong. Go to Japan, however, and you you’ll find that mobile porn consumption is straining wireless data networks to the max. With more and more Japanese mobile subscribers opting for unlimited data plans, the mobile phone is starting to replace the desktop PC in porn consumption. In fact, the demand for mobile porn over 3G data networks has become so extreme that Japan’s top two wireless carriers, DoCoMo and KDDI, are looking to limit heavy data users in a bid to manage the load on their 3G networks.

It’s fitting that porn is forcing carriers to deal with data traffic surges. Porn was the deciding factor in the VHS vs. BetaMax format wars. Porn recently helped decide the Bluray vs HD DVD format war. Now, it seems porn is going to be the driving force behind wireless carriers’ management of unlimited data plans. “Pornography will eventually open a debate about how carriers should modify their business model as data traffic swells,” said Yusuke Tsunoda, telecommunications analyst for Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. “It may prompt even tighter access restrictions.”

As handsets become more advanced and wireless data networks get faster speeds, the mobile porn problem is only going to get worse. As it stands, some wireless subscribers have complained of slow or dropped data connections around midnight (hmm, why would that be?) on KDDI’s network. The surge in data traffic is simply too much for the Japanese carrier’s network to handle, despite the fact that Japanese wireless operators spent approximately $74 billion in infrastructure build-out costs since 2000.

It should be interesting to see how carriers react to porno-fueled traffic spikes and over-consumption on unlimited data plans. That “unlimited” data plan of yours is already capped to a handful of GB’s, we wouldn’t be surprised to see that carriers imposing more drastic caps in the near future. Let’s hope 4G LTE networks help alleviate the porno-bandwidth problem to some extent.

[Via: Bloomberg]

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Four Japanese carriers to invest $10 billion in their networks during the next five years

Dusan Belic — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:17:46 +0000

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]

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KDDI Gets Eco-Friendly Water-Resistant, Solar-Powered Phone

Simon Sage — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:40:15 +0000

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]

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Sony Ericsson S001 is the best Cyber-shot phone; Too bad it’s a Japan-only device

Dusan Belic — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:56:26 +0000

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]

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Japanese Wooo Ketai H001 Gets 3D

Simon Sage — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:02:22 +0000

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]

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Japan’s KDDI adds Sony Ericsson Walkman Xmini; World’s smallest Walkman phone?

Dusan Belic — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:07:02 +0000

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]

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KDDI au teams up with Louis Vuitton for standby screens

Dusan Belic — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:12:40 +0000

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]

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KDDI out with Fall Winter collection; 8 phones that will make you move to Japan

Dusan Belic — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:37:07 +0000

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…

First comes the Hitachi Wooo W63H and Casio Exilim W63CA (we’ve seen this one passing the FCC hurdle, BTW). Both devices come with 3.1-inch OLED screens that KDDI wants to be used for watching full-length movies downloaded through their Lismo Video service. The Casio Exilim also boasts an 8.1 megapixel camera.

Then there’s Sharp Aquos with its super hi-res 3.5-inch screen that makes mobile TV actually usable. We’ve already talked about this model and we love it!

Sony Ericcson on its end has a fashion phone for the collection, allowing users to change plates and personalize the device to their needs. At the moment, James Bond and Fifa World Cup plates are among the choices available.

The Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) W65T is also a respectable device, sporting Lismo Video support, wireless music option and a built-in GPS.

Finally, three last phones we’ll mention — Kyocera (NYSE: KYO) W65K, Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) W64S and Panasonic (NYSE: PC) W62P — are more simplistic phones for the fashion savvy users.

With an exception of last three mentioned devices, all KDDI phones come with the “au BOX” connectivity. Plus, all handsets (three fashion phones included) have “Karada Manager” pre-installed, which is a mobile personal trainer app that should keep the respective owners in shape on-the-go.

[Via: Gizmodo]

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KDDI bucks global trends – profits up 27%!

Ben Robinson — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:24:42 +0000

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]

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KDDI beaming mobile images to e-paper

Simon Sage — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:02:41 +0000

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]

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KDDI Shows Off Prototype 3D LCD Screen for Mobile Devices

James Falconer — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:44:22 +0000

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]

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KDDI ‘au BOX’ syncs with your Mobile

Ben Robinson — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:12:31 +0000

au BOX!

TechRadar has a really interesting convergence story, which is emanating from Japan!

KDDI (the number two carrier in Japan) have delivered a set-top box (called the ‘au BOX’) which will cost ¥315 (£1.60) a month, and offer subs who use the KDDI network (and handsets) the ability to load content to the device via the TV!

The box displays on the TV with a web-browsing like environment, and will grab anything download from au’s ‘various media services‘ for transfer to the handset. The box is based on Linux, and given it has a DVD drive can also rip movies/music to a handset format (so it has some on-board transcoding too – cool!). Apparently the handset has to be connected by USB, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a wireless radio added at launch, or just after.

It’s not only the content that is converged, but also the billing – users are charged for the content they consume to their mobile bill, giving them just one payment to concern themselves with.

If you want to check out the ‘au BOX’ in more detail, then you can go here – I’m suggesting a good grasp of Japanese if you want to get the most out of the site though

[Via: TechRadar]

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iPhone 3G boosts Japan’s SoftBank customer counts

Will Park — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:39:39 +0000

Who said the iPhone would struggle to find traction in the super-competitive Japanese wireless market? That’s right, just about everyone.

Following on new sales estimates that point to 3 million iPhone 3Gs in the wild, a new study from from TechOn, dubbed “iPhone Affects KDDI’s Net Subscription Growth,” points to incredible new subscription growth on SoftBank (OTCPK: SFTBF), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s exclusive iPhone 3G carrier in Japan. Of the 391,500 new activations in Japan for July, more than half, or 215,400 to be more precise, were due to the iPhone 3G alone. “We believe our large net growth was an iPhone effect,” according to Softbank.

And, it the iPhone 3G’s affect on the Japanese wireless market has been noted by rival carrier KDDI. They found that the iPhone 3G was responsible for more subscriber cancellations due to customers porting their accounts to other carriers. “We are accepting the fact, considering that our handsets weren’t attractive enough,” said KDDI representatives.

While there are many potential explanations for the iPhone 3G’s success in the Japanese market, there seems to be a lack of focus on the heralded iPhone’s user interface (UI) and the user experience that it delivers.

While Japan has more than its fair share of feature phones that boast the most advanced features on the planet, Japanese handsets have traditionally been limited to flip-phone form-factors with little emphasis on a clean user interface. The iPhone 3G represents a major shift in handset-perception for the Japanese people, giving them a multi-touch touchscreen handset that focuses on delivering a user experience bar none.

The iPhone 3G does lack in the feature-department. The 2 megapixel camera is woefully lacking compared to the high-end shooters from competitors. There’s no video recording. No turn-by-turn navigation. And, in comparison with the feature-packed handsets in Japan, the iPhone 3G is a veritable late-bloomer that has yet to actually bloom.

But, the iPhone and iPhone 3G’s UI, the iPhone Mac OS, helps affect a user experience that is greater than the sum of its parts. While advanced Japanese feature-phones focus on packing in features with little regard for an integrated feel, the iPhone 3G makes the most of its limited feature set.

The iPhone’s UI may not be the single, or even the most significant, reason for Japan’s enthusiastic adoption rates of the iPhone 3G, but it likely does play a role.

The question remains, will the iPhone 3G sustain this kind of explosive growth?

[Via: TechOn]

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KDDI partners with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to launch an online bank

Dusan Belic — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:35:43 +0000

KDDI is partnering with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to launch a 24-hour online bank. The 50-50 venture will be called Jibun Bank or “me bank,” and will reportedly debut in mid-July.

Initially, account holders will be able to make online payments using their mobile phones or PCs, with such features as loans, insurance and credit card services planned to be rolled out in the near future. KDDI and Bank of Tokyo expect to have 2.4 million accounts and deposits representing a total of 1 trillion yen ($9.27 billion) in the fiscal year starting April 2010. Then, in the following two years, the bank plans to have a total of 3.4 million accounts and 1.5 trillion yen in deposits.

The service, however, won’t be open to KDDI users, only. It will be open to other mobile networks, NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) and Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF), users as well, but KDDI plans to make its phones “the most convenient cellphones on the market, and the safest way to transfer money.”

Bank president Masato Nakai said he expects half of the bank’s revenues to come from fees, and the other half from investments on deposits.

[Via: Reuters]

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KDDI Summer 2008 collection unveiled

Dusan Belic — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:12:49 +0000

Finally, the third of the largest Japanese mobile operators (other two are DoCoMo and SoftBank) has announced its summer collection. As you’re about to see, it’s good to be in Japan these days. With so many great options, the only “problem” left is to choose the right device. Let’s quickly go through KDDI’s offering:

Hitachi Wooo W62H is definitely one of those device designed to woo us. The dual-flip phone (like the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N93 for instance) prides itself with 3G gaming and video capabilities. Comes in blue, silver, and black.
Sharp W62SH – among the specs we pick 16:9 WVGA screen, 3.2 megapixel camera and the built-in FM transmitter. Comes in purple, white, and gold with Spidermen 2 movie pre-loaded.
Sanyo (OTCPK: SANYY) W63SA – Global CDMA roaming phone with integrated English-Japanese dictionary. Available in red, silver or black.
Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) Sportio is a candybar designed to keep you in shape. QVGA screen may be enough for Europe and the U.S., but not for Japan. Then again, this one may be targeted toward people who don’t want all the mumbo-jumbo of high-end phones. It’s available in orange, black, white, green and red.
Casio G’zOne W62CA – rugged clamshell for an adventurer in everyone of us. Resists impact, water, and among other things features a compass, thermometer, GPS and one-seg TV receiver. Color options include green, black or white.
Sanyo W64SA – I guess we should call this baby the high-end fashion phone, thanks to the gorgeous 2.8″ WVGA screen. Comes in pink, white, yellow and black.
Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) Full Change re – this is probably one of the most customizable handsets we’ve seen. Five individual pieces can be removed from the front, back, and top of the phone to create a totally customized experience. Shell choices include white, pink, green, orange and silver.
Toshiba W62T – with WQVGA screen, Toshiba’s handsets seems destined for the mid-range in Japan. 3.2 megapixel camera also won’t help it moving up the ladder. Available colors include gold, pink and black.
Kyocera (NYSE: KYO) W64K – this is almost an entry level device in Japan. WQVGA screen and 2 megapixel camera won’t get you anywhere in the Land of the Rising Sun. Pink and gold are the only color options.
Kyocera W62K – and this IS the entry-level one. 1.3 megapixel camera and QVGA screen. What can I say, except – skip this one. Comes in beige, blue and black.
Kyocera W63K – the 10.8mm thick candybar with 1.3 megapixel camera. Available in black, burgundy and beige.
Pantech W62PT seems designed for strangers or older folks is Japan, and is the only device made by a non-Japanese company. Offers basic phone features on a QVGA screen. It comes in silver, gold and pink.

And that’s it. We should look at the top part of the list, as far as I’m concerned. WVGA screens are getting a standard in the high-end mobile phone market in Japan. And in the rest of the world, moving beyond the QVGA has just started…

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

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KDDI announces ER Search – visual search powered by Bandai

Will Park — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:17:40 +0000

Why fuss with vague or complex search strings to find information about a product that you’re holding in your hands? Sure, semantic and contextual search engines help narrow down your search to the most likely hits by “reading between the lines,” but they still require you to describe the object you’re searching for. That’s where visual search technologies come in.

KDDI has just announced that their intention to put the Bandai Networks-powered visual search application, dubbed ER Search, on their Spring 2008 au line of cameraphones. The visual search application allows users to take a picture of an object with their cameraphone and send the picture to a server. In a few moments, the service will return relevant content regarding the object of interest – all without having to enter a single search query.

Customers with previous version of au cameraphones will also be offered the ER Search visual search application.

It’s unclear how Bandai’s ER Search business model works, but it’s likely safe to presume that referral fees for viewing product information or commissions off product sales will fuel the application’s success. Visual search is a great idea and we can only hope that the tech will make it Stateside sooner than later.

Press release on the link.

[Update]
Speaking of bringing visual search technology to us Yankees. Stefan found this video of the ViPR visual search engine being demonstrated with an iPhone. Just imagine how cool this tech will be once the search engine and image-processing server are integrated into a natively installed application for any and all cameraphones out there. Of course, there will always be a place for text-based search, but visual search is going to change the entire search-game.

Breakthrough Visual Search Engine for Mobile Phones Takes off Big in Japan

KDDI, Japan’s major mobile carrier, and Bandai Networks, a leading mobile content provider in Japan, make Evolution Robotics’ ViPR® recognition system a standard feature for newest KDDI camera phones

PASADENA, Calif. & TOKYO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Evolution Robotics Inc., a leading robotics technology company, in partnership with Bandai Networks Co. Ltd, Japan’s leading mobile content provider, announced today that KDDI Corporation is including the “ER Search” visual search engine on its new Spring 2008 “au™” line of camera phones, and has made it available for download for any KDDI customer with a prior “au” camera phone. This launch marks a dramatic expansion in the market for mobile visual search, which will enable millions of consumers in Japan alone to do online searches by taking pictures of everyday objects with their camera phone.

The deployment of this technology in the mass market also opens up an entirely new range of categories of services for mobile marketing, which is already projected to grow to $24 Billion worldwide by 2013. (Source: ABI Research)

ER Search is a mobile search engine operated by Bandai Networks and powered by Evolution Robotics’ ViPR visual pattern recognition system. It works essentially like using a traditional search engine, but without having to type any text or go through complicated menus. Instead, users simply snap a picture of something they’re interested in and immediately get back relevant content, all in the palm (NSDQ: PALM) of the hands.

As an example, KDDI customers will be able to take a picture of a music CD that would return links relating to the artist, hear clips from the album and purchase songs to download on their phone. If they are shopping for wine in a store, they can take a picture of the wine label and get expert reviews and recommendations on the spot. Or, if they are browsing through a catalog and see an item they’d like to buy, they can order it immediately by snapping a picture of the item on the page.

“ER Search is an entirely new way for connecting consumers with content and companies,” said Satoshi Oshita, CEO of Bandai Networks. “Because ER Search runs on mobile phones, searches happen when and where the customer is, as soon as they see something that they’re interested in. Additionally, the fact that a customer simply has to click a picture of a product or advertisement, makes the search process far easier and immediate than anything that has been available before.”

“We are very pleased to be working with Bandai Networks and are excited to see the momentum building in the Japanese market,” said Paolo Pirjanian, President and CEO of Evolution Robotics. “Our mission is to take aerospace-grade technologies and make them affordable for mass market applications, and ER Search is a great example. We see this as just the start of a growing market for visual search in Asia and other parts of the globe and are actively working with our partners to expand the range of services that can benefit consumers and companies alike.”

Bandai Networks had already deployed ER Search on over one million phones in Japan in 2007. With this deployment with KDDI, the number of users with access to ER Search will expand by millions more in a very short time, making it even more compelling for companies and advertisers to participate in the service.

About ViPR

The ViPR technology easily supports user-generated content so that users can take new pictures of objects, images, videos or even locations and tag them with links and content to expand the database. That content will then show up in the results returned to other users who take similar pictures, thus creating a robust world-wide visual database for communities to develop and access.

(A video demonstration of Evolution Robotics’ visual search technology running on Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/user/EvolutionRobotics)

ER Search’s versatility rests in Evolution Robotics’ breakthrough ViPR visual recognition technology. ViPR is able to learn new objects and images on the fly (such as the cover art on a music CD), without the need for any special encoding such as barcodes or watermarks. Just as significant, ViPR performs well on low cost components such as the cameras used on most mobile phones today, even when lighting and other visual conditions are poor.

For the music search application alone, Bandai Networks has over 150,000 music CD covers already indexed in their database. Other mobile marketing and mobile commerce applications include providing content and links for print ads, book covers, DVDs, product packaging, movie posters, retail displays, business signs, etc. Even animation, streaming video or images from live TV can be supported.

About Evolution Robotics

Evolution Robotics, Inc. is based in Pasadena, CA, and partners with brand leaders to make their products smarter by providing solutions for vision, autonomous navigation and intelligence. From toys to cell phones and vacuum cleaners to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) the company has over 2 million products on the market through partners such as Sony, Bandai and Sharper Image. Evolution Robotics is an operating company of Idealab, a creator and operator of technology businesses.

About Bandai Networks

Established as a subsidiary of Bandai Co., Ltd. in September of 2000, Bandai Networks is a member of the company, Bandai Namco group. Bandai Networks builds on Bandai Namco group’s strength in character merchandising and adds an expertise in server management and applications, innovative concepts, and strategic business partnering to operate a wide variety of mobile phone and Internet content services. Bandai Networks currently boasts 3.6 million subscribers to its domestic pay mobile phone services. For more information about Bandai Networks, please visit http://www.bandai-net.com/.

[Via: MocoNews]

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Panasonic sells 100 millionth Mobile phone

Ben Robinson — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:30:38 +0000

Panasonic (NYSE: PC) has announced the sale of it’s 100 millionth Mobile phone in Japan. It has supplied devices to carriers including NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), KDDI, and Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF).

Pansonic first began selling mobile comms terminals in 1979 – the first mobile phone being in 1987. Since then Panasonic has gone on to be Number 1 or Number 2 in the Japanese market for several years. The 100 millionth unit will be a FOMA P905i sold to NTT, for those that are interested.

That is some quantity of devices to get through – although not maybe as much as some other notable vendors, it’s still a milestone in it’s own right – well done Pana!
[Via: Techshout]

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