Phone calls will reach you even in Second Life

It seems that Second Life’s popularity has peaked some time ago but the “aftershock” attempts to commercialize it don’t stop. The recent idea from SUN (not Sun Microsystems) and Link Inc. is to enable Second Life users in Japan to call each other from their mobile phones without revealing your real phone number and name. The service called Avatar Keitai will provide users with phone numbers they can share with their Second Life buddies and charge the unspecified amount for the used minutes. You don’t need to be logged in Second Life to receive a phone call. While the idea of connecting mobile phones and online identities is not new (Jangl, Jaxtr and a bunch of other startups are in this niche), Avatar Keitai seems to be first to offer this capability to Second Life users in Japan. The question is will Second Life users adopt this service? Didn’t they escape into Second Life in order to cut any connections with real life and enjoy their dreams without being bugged with phone calls in the first place? However, I can see when Avatar Keitai can come in handy – to call your offline avatar-friend and verify when he will be able to be online again.

Source: +D IT Media

Solar panel for your cell phone

The problem of depleted battery for your cell phone can be easily solved if you live in a sunny place like California or Japan for instance. A startup with a funny name StrapyaNext shipped its first ‘Solar Charger eco Strap’ product in Japan today. It is a miniature solar panel attached to a cell phone strap as you can see on a picture. When your cell phone’s main battery is about to die, just connecting the solar charger to your phone for 15-25 minutes will get you extra 35 minutes to talk.

Specs
Model:	Solar Charger eco Strap
Maker:	StrapyaNext
Size:	56(H) X 37(W) X 14mm
Weight:	40g
Charge cycles:	500 times
Price:	JPY1,995 ($18.65)

Source: CNet Japan

CTIA: U.S. consumers enjoy more affordable service than Japanese

Last month, the CTIA, a US-based nonprofit organization representing service providers, manufacturers, wireless data and internet companies, published a study of the U.S. wireless market in comparison with “the markets of the rest of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s top 10 countries ranked by Gross Domestic Product.

The outcome of this study is the conclusion that based on six metrics used in this study, “The United States leads every category that CTIA reviewed, except one, where the U.S. is second. Whether it is the low price of service which results in a level of affordability that drives unprecedented minutes of use, or the unbelievable breadth of choice, it is clear that American consumers are enjoying the benefits of a vibrantly competitive wireless market that is second to none.“

I am not going to argue with the declaration that the U.S. wireless consumers are getting the most bang for the buck, because it is obviously so. However, it would be also interesting to see how the U.S. is scoring in such metrics as 3G or smartphone market penetration or mobile data revenue as a percentage of overall service revenue when compared with other countries. Nevertheless, CTIA made a nice comparison of the U.S. with each country from top ten of OECD countries, including Japan:

Source: CTIA

Japan comes third in world connectivity score

According to a new report, Japan ranked third in countries that use telecoms to increase their public and economic prosperity. The study conducted by London Business School Professor Leonard Waverman and commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks has measured countries on communications technology and other investments in IT. The results are presented in a form of the Connectivity Scorecard where Japan with a score of 6.8 out of ten is trailing behind the United States (6.97) and Sweden (6.83). While behind the U.S., Japan was "rewarded for high use of mobility solutions by businesses in particular." While the results maybe surprising when compared with other similar comparisons, it's important to remember that The Connectivity Scorecard analyses not only a nation’s ICT infrastructure but the effectiveness of its use. The relatively low scores of top three countries suggest there is some room for improvement in "smart" utilization of telecoms technologies for the sake of national prosperity. Grab a copy of full report at Nokia Siemens website.
Source: Nokia Siemens Networks (PDF)

Mobile-friendly robot miuro sings songs and looks after your household

Have you ever dreamt about your personal robot at home? I know, I have. And I don’t mean that kind of dumb vacuum cleaners that roll around your house picking up trash after you. I mean miuro. Miuro is a network-connected alarm clock/Internet radio/MP3 player/security camera/message board/iPod compatible dancing machine. If it is not enough, miuro roams freely around house to the pre-programmed locations and is remotely controlled from a cell phone. The usage scenarios among many include the following:

• Pre-program miuro to take images of certain areas in your house at set time and send them to your mobile phone (check your pet’s condition constantly, for instance).
• Make miuro play back your favorite MP3 song or Internet radio channel in order to let your spouse know you’re on your way home instead of making a phone call.
• To make sure the spouse got the message right you can send a text message that can be displayed on miuro’s screen or even read aloud.
• Miuro has a motion-detector camera sensor, which takes images and sends them out to your email

Specs
Model:	miuro
Maker:	ZMP
Price (full package):	JPY35,600 ($295)
Size:	35 x 22cm
Weight:	5kg
Audio input:	iPodDock connector (charging feature), stereo 3.5mm mini plug
Music format:	WAV, MP3, WMA, AAC, AIFF, LPCM (cannot play DRM-protrected files wirelessly)
Mobility:	Two-wheleed drive mode
Sensors:	camera sensor, gyro, accelerator, distance meter, touch sensor
WLAN:	802.11b
Power:	AC adapter (100V, 50/60Hz)
Battery:	Lithium Ion
Color variations:	White, Black, Yellow

Vendor's site

Iris recognition for secure authentication comes to mobile phones

Oki Denki managed to put a processor-hungry iris recognition application onto a cameraphone. Nobody was able to do it before, according to the company. At Wireless Japan 2007 tradeshow, they demonstrated a working solution for Windows Mobile 2003 and Symbian smartphones. The application can also potentially run on Linux or BREW phones. The camera’s resolution should be at least 1 megapixel, however 2 megapixels are highly recommended. 200KB of phone’s internal memory are required to store the client software and another 200KB of memory are needed to run it.

Sources: IT Media, Oki Denki (Japanese)

Jabra competes with taxies in central Tokyo

Surprisingly, Japan is lagging behind Europe and the U.S. in terms of Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones penetration. Not surprisingly Jabra, a well-known Bluetooth headset maker, wants to grab a substantial market share of Bluetooth headsets in Japan while domestic players are still trying to recognize the market opportunity. Well-aware of Japanese consumer buying power Jabra aims at the luxurious segment of the market by selling a designer headset JX-10. However, it is not an easy task to sell to Japanese a brand they know little about. In a move to raise its brand awareness, Jabra is unleashing a small fleet of Jabra-branded eye-catching velo taxies onto the streets of central Tokyo. This promotional campaign will last till the end of July. Knowing Japanese consumers' love for branded products, I would recommend Jabra to partner with top brands like Louis Vuitton or Dolce & Gabbana. Motorola did it with Dolce already.

FON in Japan: 10,000 access points

IT Media reports that after four months of operations FON, a WiFi community whose members share their wireless Internet access points, has expanded its presence in Japan to 10,691 access points as of April 8th - a result that makes Japan third after Germany and U.S. in terms of FON's AP number per country. FON Japan aims to increase the total number of its APs to 75,000 units by year end.

Get Japan CellPhone Edge widget on your mobile

Now we are accessible from mobile devices as well. Jump to this link and download our widget onto your mobile handset. You can also check the compatibility of your handset here. The widget is powered by WidSets, a company owned by Nokia. We also placed a widset button in the left column for an easy sign-up. However, keep in mind that your carrier will be charging you for data traffic generated by the use of the widget. Enjoy!

Japanese handset vendors' poor IPR portfolio makes them less competitive on international arena

While reading ABI Research's insight by Andy Bae, I came across of a very interesting piece of information that reveals a disturbing paradox about the Japanese handset vendors. They are well known for their technological advancements in handsets (half of a credit for that should go to Japanese operators as well), but yet their R&D programs prove to be ineffective compared to Western companies. For example, Qualcomm and Nokia hold more IPR than all of Japan's 11 vendors. As Andy Bae states, "this is especially the case in the WCDMA standard - 560 patents by Qualcomm, 280 by Nokia versus the combined total of Japanese vendors of 270 cases." Clearly, Japanese vendors must intensify their R&D efforts in order to become competitive on a global scale.

Apple’s iPhone to hit Japan market in 2008?

Apple indicated it is going to offer iPhone in Asia in 2008. Steve Jobs didn’t name any specific countries, but it looks like the first candidates for the iPhone launch are going to be either Japan or South Korea in the Asia Pacific region. Taking into account the hefty price of the iPhone, it is obvious that only mature markets such as Japan and Korea can afford it. Don’t forget about the dominant position of iPod and iTunes in Japan. Apple just needs to add the UMTS support for its iPhone to sell in Japan as GSM is useless here.

ABI Research: Japanese and South Korean Mobile Handsets Leading the World in Mobile TV, Digital Imaging, and Display Innovation

According to a new study by ABI Research, Japan and South Korea remain the major sources of innovation in mobile handset development and design. The research company says that camera- and mobile TV-enabled phones are expected to drive new growth momentum over the next few years in both countries' handset markets.

In 2006, approximately 75% of all handsets in Japan and 52% in South Korea include cameras. "Two megapixel camera phones with autofocus and zoom functions have started to outpace 1.3 megapixel models in Japan and South Korea," says company's senior analyst Andy Bae. "Two and three megapixel phones will be mainstream by 2008. Five (and greater) megapixel models will dominate after 2010."

"Japan and South Korea have launched HSDPA and CDMA 1xEV-DO Rev. A services this year," Bae says. "This technologically advanced environment has spurred mobile vendors to develop premium and high-end handsets to support video call and music track download services."In Japan, the most popular new services are "Chaku Uta" music downloads to mobile handsets. HSPDA services, with their broadband data rates, provide customers with very satisfactory music download experiences. Accordingly, Japanese vendors have continuously expanded music phones lines with Bluetooth headphones, shuttle controls keys, and key pads.

Common to both countries is the popularity of mobile TV-enabled handsets. In South Korea, vendors are focusing on development and marketing of T-DMB versus S-DMB phones, due to T-DMB's brighter future prospects.

Displays are evolving as well. Japanese and South Korean manufacturers will incorporate cutting-edge display innovations such as 16:9 ratios, 2.5-inch AM OLED displays using system-on-panel, and LTPS TFT, the efficiency of which can decrease the number of circuits and components, and therefore, power consumption.

While ABI's study backs the fundamental idea behind this blog, I just couldn't resist ranting a little bit about some statements regarding mobile services in Japan. I don't know much about South Korea, but as for Japan, the adoption level of mobile TV is still far from being called a success. On another point, 'Chaku Uta' can hardly be called a new service. Even the 'Chaku Uta Full' service, which enables OTA full-song downloads, was introduced last year. Video calling didn't take up in Japan due to network limitations and high costs of service and it's too early to say if HSDPA or rev. A deployments will change users' behavior. Japan is surprisingly lags behind other countries, including USA, in using Bluetooth for hands-free calling or music listening. The problem with the handset innovation is that users tend to use only two or three handset core features while the rest of the pack is caught in limbo. However, it doesn't apply to physical design innovation such as display resolution, which is always welcomed by users.

Source: ABI Research press release

Glossary of Japan Mobile Terms launched

Just launched a beta version of the glossary of Japanese mobile terms. There are so many Japanese specific mobile terms around that I felt the urge to do some aggregation. I collected just a few of the terms so far, but intend to update the glossary constantly. Meanwhile, if you have any suggestions of what terms to include or questions about Japanese words, feel free to comment below. Thank you.