When do low prices on mobile phones and service actually hurt consumers? Well, for Japan, the continuing decline of mobile phone prices is putting the hurt on the island-nation’s economy. With 100 million mobile phone users, Japan’s top mobile phone manufacturers and carriers are engaged in a months-long battle to entice wireless customers into their side of the ring. The biggest weapon is the slashing of the price of hardware and service.

The price-war has had a negative effect on Japan’s economy – namely on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The country has been struggling to escape deflation’s strangle-hold for the past several months. And it looks like Japan is going to have to deal with another month of deflation and falling prices/CPI.

The Ministry of International Affairs and Communications, which compiles the CPI, has yet to decide how to deal with the expected 30% price cuts from the nation’s top two mobile phone providers – KDDI and NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM).

It seems too much of a good thing really can be bad.

[Via: Yahoo]

Japan’s KDDI is set to show Apples of the world that the good ol’ keypad equipped candybar handset can look sexy too. Their newly launched Infobar 2 phone is the successor of the original Infobar which was announced way back in 2003. The new Infobar 2 measures 47×138x15.5 mm, weighs 104 grams, and packs such features as 2.6″ WQVGA (240×400) OLED display, stereo speakers, EZ FeliCa support, 2 MP camera, 1Seg mobile TV tuner and the microSD expansion slot. In addition, its battery can support about 290 minutes of talk or 350 hours of standy time. Interested buyers will have to wait for November when this device is set to hit the stores. In Japan only, though.

[Via: Engadget Mobile]

In its effort to expand its dominance to the mobile world, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is working with KDDI to provide mobile search to the Japan’s second largest carrier’s users. But now they decided to extend the partnership by launching the KDDI version of Google’s popular GMail service. According to the arrangement, the special version of GMail (both online and mobile) will be available to KDDI’s users as “au one mail”. The idea is to use the carrier’s “Au” brand, which is quite popular among young Japanese people, to expand Google’s reach in Japan and to add one more reason for joining the KDDI at the same time. We’ll see where this goes…

[Via: FarEastGizmos]

Japan, that little island nation dotting the Pacific “Rim of Fire” and constantly rocked by shaking earth, has mobilized “a system to notify customers of an imminent earthquake.” Japanese wireless operators DoCoMo and KDDI are joining forces to develop this type of early-warning system, as is Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF), to give the Japanese population a few precious seconds of lead-time. The mobile phone networks will integrate with the Japanese Meteorological Society, which has developed a way to detect a quake several seconds ahead of its arrival. An earthquake warning system would be extremely useful in a nation that can claim 20% of shakers globally.

The mobile warning system will likely use an integrated mobile application that would sound an alarm or give visual warning of the incoming earthquake – giving the Japanese people time to brace for the impact or escape to safer environs. The time it takes to check email or text messages might be longer than the advance warning, making them unlikely mediums for the warning system.

via: yahoo

 With the launch of their Casio W53CA, the digital camera manufacturer busts onto the high-end camera phone scene with abandon! Casio is going straight up against camera phone heavyweight Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE)’s Cybershot brand with a high-quality, high-megapixel line of their own. The sleek new Casio W53CA sports a slim figure, large 2.8 inch VGA display, MP3 player, email client, IR port, microSD slot, 5MP (megapixel) high-quality shooter (Sony Ericsson doesn’t even offer this level of pixel density) with 9-point Auto-Focus, 28mm lens, color correction and anti-shake technology. This thing is just beautiful! Slim design, clean lines, swivel screen…but only in Japan. Those lucky KDDI Japan subscribers!

We’re serious when we say that Sony Ericsson and their Cybershot brand better watch their back – newcomer Casio is going to make sure that all high-end camera phone manufacturers bring their A-game from now on.

Check out this beauty in its high-res glory after the link…

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It’s always like that — Japanese are getting the most coolest-looking and most feature-packed devices. And it’s not just a single device, but a bunch of the handsets sold exclusively in the Land of the rising Sun sport so many features, so stylishly packed. Going with that, KDDI announced its “Collection 2007 Summer”, an array of new devices available to its customers. Let’s briefly showcase each of them…

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We knew its coming. However, we were hoping to see the Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) W52S hitting the Western hemisphere. It’s a great device nevertheless and, if we can’t, at least our readers in Japan can enjoy using it.

The W52S looks even sexier than we initially imagined — it comes in two vivid colors, Arpeggio Blue and Pizzicato Pink, and good ol’ Silver. In terms of specs, this slider boasts the large 2.7″ 240×432 high-res high-quality screen (thanks to RealityMAX, Bravia technology), tons of available memory (2GB), a 2 MP camera, an FM transmitter and the M2 memory card slot. The W52S has dimensions of 108×57x22 mm, and weighs 130g. So, it may not be the smallest Walkman phone out there, but it’s certainly one of the most feature-packed. Hopefully, Sony Ericsson will transfer this baby to Europe and the U.S. (via: Gizmodo)

Japanese carrier KDDI is about to introduce a great new phone to its users. The Hitachi-made W51H is a part of the company’s “win” series and integrates AuthenTec’s AES1510 fingerprint sensor as a standard feature. Interesting thing is that the sensor is located bellow the large screen — meaning there is no separate fingerprint space on the phone. The screen itself is an impressing piece of technology. It is 2.9″ wide and displays resolution of up to 280×800 pixels. Furthermore, the screen flips and swivels for easy reading while browsing mobile web pages.

Users of the W51H will be able to use the fingerprint sensor for mobile ticketing and other mobile payment services. The carrier will introduce the handset for about $150 with an appropriate contract. (via: MobileWhack)

Japan’s KDDI just announced that their new MVNO service will go live within US borders by mid-month. The second-largest Japanese wireless carrier wants to use Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel’s CDMA network to setup KDDI Mobile. Finally, those wacky-cool Japanese phones will hit US shores in all their feature packed glory. And, with a robust lineup of mobile phones in their arsenal, KDDI’s got the US MVNO market squarely in its sights. Let’s just wait to see what kind reliability and customer service this Asian MVNO brings to the table.

Via: Reuters

North American consumers, prepare to be flushed with mobile games, as Namco and KDDI announced the partnership to bring KDDI’s large catalog of hit mobile games from Japanese publishers and developers to the market.

Utilizing BREW technology, KDDI provides popular games to its more than 25 million mobile subscribers throughout Japan. Its acclaimed mobile games catalog includes an array of puzzle, action and strategy games.