au 1seg mobile users top 2 million

au announced today that they had sold a total of 2 million 1seg compatible handsets. au, who where the first of the three carriers to develop a handset capable of picking up terrestrial digital TV with the W33SA from Sanyo, reached this milestone on the 23rd of February.

since this first model, au have launched a total of 12 1seg mobiles and according to one marketing firm who track POS data in national electronics stores, au have sold the highest number of 1seg keitais for 14 months straight. that is from December 2005 (ie. their first model) to January 2007. the figures show that au has a 56.96% share off all 1seg handsets sold.

the photo below is from the buildup to 1seg back in September 2005, when 6 TV presenters from the major channels participated in a promotional event.

DoCoMo and Lawson complete iD tie-up

in just over two weeks time, March 9th to be precise, NTT DoCoMo and convenience store chain Lawson will complete the installation of iD, DoCoMo's credit payment service in all of its stores nationwide. then on the 13th of March they will launch a new 'Lawson Pass iD' service through which members can use their mobiles to pay and collect points and gain special discounts in the similar way to current members with Visa or JCB Lawson Pass credit cards.

it was just one year ago that DoCoMo invested 9 billion yen in Lawson and the two announced their intentions to work together to implement iD payment systems in all stores. Lawson operates a total of 8,511 stores putting it in 2nd place behind the No. 1 conbini chain Seven-Eleven. Lawson also has over 2.5 million customers already signed up for their 'Lawson Pass' membership service to collect points and benefit from special offers. I have yet to sign up for any store cards for a conbini thus far, but I would definitely consider it if it was on my mobile.

I am a big proponent of osaifu keitai and am happy to see deals like todays and yesterdays McDonald's announcement. it is a bit of a coincidence, but in the basement of my office building there is both a Lawson's and a McDonald's. it's just a pity I am au!

DoCoMo in joint venture deal with McDonald's

McDonalds Japan and NTT DoCoMo today announced that they will be working together to introduce osaifu keitai ( mobile wallet ) payment and Toruca coupons in McDonalds resturants. July 2007 will see the formation of a new joint venture company with the sole purpose of developing and marketing the use of osaifu keitai at McDonald's.

roll-out of iD terminals will start by October in the Tokyo area to begin with. McDonald's, who serve up 140 million meals in Japan each year will persuade their current credit card members of 'Mc Joy Club' to switch to a new member based service to be run by the new company.DoCoMo, who claim to have 20 million osaifu keitai out there, will put up 30% of the new company of which McDonalds will foot the remaining 70%. at first the services will only be DoCoMo's iD credit service and Toruca coupon service.
speed could obviously a big plus for a fast food resturant and the possibilities with electronic coupons for McDonalds is endless. they alread spend a great deal on paper coupons inserted in newspapers or handed out around town, not to mention the value of all that customer data they could collect via member based promotions.

tsuika:

BBC covered the story: Burgers paid for by mobile phone

as did Digital World Tokyo.

SO703i Beauty Renaissance Collection

a fashion show/product launch was held on the stairs of Omotesando Hills yesterday for Sony's model in DoCoMo's new 703i series. you can read all about the star of 'SO703i Beauty Renaissance Collection' in my original article. it goes on sale on the 23rd.
Oshikiri Moe was the main model and followed in the footsteps of Julia Roberts, appearing as Tinkerbell. she was holding on tight to a special one off 3 million yen Swarovski Crystal Tinkerbell SO703i that includes six diamonds, one emerald, one saphire and one ruby, apparently chosen by Moe-chan herself.
Disney are one of the companies who are collaborating on special exchangable covers for the handset although the Tinkerbell cover going on sale won't include the precious stones. others collaborators will include Alfredo Bannister and New Balance. the phone also incorporates a unique 'aroma sheet' which when inserted behind the cover gives out various aromas.

EMOBILE announces services and first handset

EMOBILE who will start HSDPA mobile data services in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka on the 31st of March today introduced their service line-up, thier first 'terminal' and 4 different data cards.

EM-ONE - a 'Windows Mobile' handheld from Sharp, is 18.9 mm thick, boasts a 4.1 inch WideVGA touch-screen. the handset slides two-ways, one to reveal the QWERTY keyboard and the other way to reveal a d-pad etc. the 'Mobile Broadband Terminal' can pick up 1 seg, but one weak point as I see it is the 1.3 megapixel camera.

fixed rate data prices start at 4,980 yen per month and the price of the EM-ONE handset depends on the length of contract that you take out. the most expensive is 95,000 yen on the basic plan, down to a more reasonable 39,800 yen on the two year plan.

for those who want more detail or are interested in information about the data cards, check out EMOBILE's english homepage. for those tempted by the competitive pricing on the fixed rate data plans, remember that if you are looking for the whole mobile package that it is not for another year, March of 2008, that EMOBILE will start its roaming agreement for calls with DoCoMo.

W52T and the mysterious PC Document Viewer

the W52T goes on sale this Friday and although I have read all the information I can find about it there is one small question in my mind. that is, why do au not mention absolutely anywhere about the PC Document Viewer that is in the phone.

it is not so uncommon now for some of the Japanese handsets to come with the ability to view Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, PDF and html files. but if they do support it, you can bet that it would be in the interest of the carrier to publish this.

you can see in my original post about the W52T, if there was one thing that I would have liked to seen included it was the PC document viewer. I even continued my moan in the article about the similar (but much thinner) Toshiba slide type 911T for SoftBank.

the official au press release, all the Japanese news sites mentioned not one word about a PC Document Viewer. but I was pleasantly surprised when I checked out the official maker site from Toshiba. the W52T does indeed have a PC Document Viewer. perhaps it is that there are so many functions on there that it got pushed of the bottom of the list?

you can check out the 'making of' W52T TV CM with Boa here.

and you can find the 'aired once only' extended length TV CM here.

Softbank open new flagship shop in Harajuku

Yamada Yu made a guest appearance at the opening of SoftBank's new flagship shop in Harajuku this past Saturday (10th Feb). the shop, just a few minutes walk from JR Harajuku station, is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. new contract, upgrades and other such contract services are available from 10am to 9pm, with product explanations, sale of accessories and battery charging services are available around the clock.
the Harajuku shop, which I guess takes over the flagship rights from Roppongi, has a massive 100 serivce counters and also an event space area. Yamada Yu, seen above with SoftBank President Son Masayoshi, has previously been a face for Vodafone in Japan. the 'Pantone Keitai' (seen below) also went on sale on the same day.

Japanese mobile contracts top 100 million

picture: very little relevance

the number of keitai and PHS phones in use in Japan topped the 100 million mark for the first time at the end of January. Mobiles phones stand at 95.3 million and PHS phones make up a further 4.9 million to total 100.2 million.

so first looking at the nett changes during January, you can see that KDDI (au's parent company) must still be doing the right things and is continuing to gain strongly thanks to au, despite the mass exodus from their 2G carrier tu-ka that is due to end services at the end of March 2008. (tu-ka users are being offered a pretty sweet deal to transfer their contracts to au, so you can bet that most of those minuses from tu-ka go directly to au.)

network	nett change in January
DoCoMo	+7,000
au	+432,000
tu-ka	-223,600
SoftBank	+164,000

next, looking at overall figures as of 31st January 2007, you can get a good picture of how dominant DoCoMo still is and how much ground au still has to make up. of course at the moment they are definitely moving in the right direction.

network	total contract numbers as of 31st Jan 2007
DoCoMo	52.22 million (54.8%)
au	26.23 million (27.5%)
tu-ka	1.20 million (1.3%)
SoftBank	15.66 million (16.4%)

the next table is also very interesting as it shows the nett change figures for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). SoftBank have a decent figure in, but unfortunately there is a slightly bigger number leaving them resulting in a small nett decrease. au on the other hand seem to be the biggest benefactors of MNP so far.

network	MNP nett change
DoCoMo	-98,500
au	+115,500
tu-ka	-7,100
SoftBank	-10,000

AEON adopts SUICA and iD

AEON - one of Japans largest retailers announced last week that they are installing the necessary infrastructure to start accepting both JR's SUICA and NTT DoCoMo's iD. as an au user, the iD news doesn't mean that much to me, other than i am happy to see the dissemination of mobile wallet services.

however, as a big SUICA fan i am glad to see that they are spreading their wings to places other than just near the station. the fact that i don't think i have ever shopped there does not lessen the fact that they are the biggest retailer in Japan by sales. i would say however that Edy is noticably absent from the 3 way announcement.

the AEON press release had plenty of figures, so here goes....

AEON

• as of 1st of February they start off with roughly 4,000 reader/writers (ie. terminals at which you will be able to pay with SUICA or iD) at 89 stores in the Kanto region.
  
• by 2008 this will be 50,000 machines at 5,700 stores.
• 10 million customers visit AEON stores every weekend.

SUICA

• there are now 18.5 million SUICA cards out there.
• used as e-money 390,000 times a day (i thought this sounded low!)
  
• at roughly 10,000 stores (and vending machines).

iD

• in 13 months there are 1.5 million registered users.
• 100,000 compatible check-outs.

SoftBank 2007 Spring - the other 3 by Samsung

so as i said in the first post, SoftBank claim 14 'new' models. up until now i have introduced 11 and now i will lump the last 3 together. that is because there is no specific details out yet for the 805SC (Japan's thinnest 1seg slide type), 707SC II (707SC adopted for HSDPA) and '707SC Swarovski Crystal Version'.

however i always try to be complete so i will write them up when SoftBank announce more details. for now heres a little look at the 707SC Swarovski Crystal Version.

SoftBank 2007 Spring - X01NK by Nokia

this phone from Nokia was originally announced way back in May of 2006. so when it actually comes out in March, it will be a mighty 10 months since first being announced to going on sale. a slightly tweaked version of the Nokia E61, it supports wireless LAN, bluetooth, email client, microsoft document viewer, (Nokia) full browser.

the screen is 2.8 inches below which you will find a Qwerty keypad. for external memory it takes miniSD. one big difference between this X01NK and the E61 is that this version is locked to SoftBank. you may have noticed Vodafone in the screen below - lets hope they can get that changed by the official release.

Model	X01NK (E61)
Maker	Nokia
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.8 inch QVGA TFT (240x320)
Camera	none
External Memory	miniSD card
Dimensions - h w d	117 x 69.7 x 14 mm
Weight	144g
Felica	NO
Other	wireless LAN, bluetooth, full browser
Colours	silver

SoftBank 2007 Spring - 708SC by Samsung

Samsung have come up with yet another thinnest 3G handset in the world. they have used a landscape screen as opposed to the normal vertical screen and this makes it more suitable for reading emails or microsoft documents using the PC document viewer function.
they also managed to squeeze in bluetooth support and trilingual software - Japanese, Korean and English into the 8.4mm thin model.

Model	708SC
Maker	Samsung
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	1.9 inch QVGA TFT (240x320)
Camera	2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	112 x 50.4 x 8.4 mm
Weight	73g
Felica	NO
Other	bluetooth
Colours	brown, silver, blue green, royal blue

SoftBank 2007 Spring - 706P by Panasonic

as the follow-up to the 705P, this phone from Panasonic doesn't seem to add much to the functionality, however one thing that puzzles me is that it has gone from 14.8mm to 16.2mm. if you ask me that is just plainly the wrong direction, especially when you aren't getting something extra for that extra width.
of course it retains the signature one-push open button up in the left hand side of the hinge. one more thing i quite like is the 'deep green' colour shown in the top photo. although to me that is 'british racing green'.

Model	706P
Maker	Panasonic
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.2 inch QVGA TFT (240x320)
Camera	2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	101 x 50 x 16.2 mm
Weight	110g
Felica	NO
Other	bluetooth
Colours	mirror blue, white, pink, black, deep green

SoftBank 2007 Spring - 706N by NEC

based on the 705N, this phone's distinguishing feature lies in it's rounded form and half mirror finish design. another phone aimed at the female market, the phone supports bluetooth but not many other mentionable services.

Model	706N
Maker	NEC
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.2 inch QVGA TFT (240x320)
Camera	2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	108 x 50 x 18 mm
Weight	119g
Felica	NO
Other	bluetooth
Colours	silver, black, sakura, raspberry

SoftBank 2007 Spring - 813T by Toshiba

'a compact design with GPS functions and full browser' is how this phone was described at the press conference. if it was au, these functions would be standard and also comparing the size against some of SoftBank's own other models, i don't really see how they can call it compact.

nonetheless this is targeted at females in their 20s -40s, and Toshiba have suggested that if 812T is the child, 911T is the dad and then this phone is the mum. the metallic finish is quite nice, but unfortunately i am more interested in the inside.

Model	813T
Maker	Toshiba
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.4 inch QVGA TFT (240x320)
Camera	3.24 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	97 x 49 x 20 mm
Weight	113g
Felica	NO
Other	full browser, GPS
Colours	pink, champagne gold, blue, silver

SoftBank 2007 Spring - kodomobile 812T by Toshiba

'kodomobile' combines 'kodomo' - the Japanese word for child and 'mobile'. it is the first SoftBank model designed for kids and was already announced back in Decmber of 2006, so today was really a re-announcement. the model is based on the 810T and comes with GPS services you would expect on a kids mobile. you can also see the crime prevention buzzer activation device and lamps in the picture above.
parents can set limits on the usage of the phone and to coincide with the sale of the phone, a mobile version of Yahoo Kids portal service will be launched.

Model	812T
Maker	Toshiba
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.4 inch QVGA TFT (240x320)
Camera	3.24 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	93* x 49 x 24 mm (*103 when you count the buzzer switch)
Weight	118g
Felica	NO
Other	crime prevention buzzer and lamp
Colours	blue, pink

SoftBank 2007 Spring - '813SH for Biz' by Sharp

so i said in the opening post that claiming 14 models this season was pushing it a little. the 813SH is a camera-less 812SH, and the '813SH for Biz' is the 813SH with a few further security upgrades (or should that be downgrades?) i say this because on this phone which is only distinguishable from the 813SH by the letters under the keypad (shown above), there is no infra-red, no external memory, no connecting via USB and the bluetooth is only available for handsfree. other increased security functions include password protection and remote deletion of all contents.

Model	813SH for Biz
Maker	Sharp
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.4 inch QVGA ASV (240x320)
Camera	none
External Memory	none
Dimensions - h w d	97 x 49 x 17.6 mm
Weight	104g
Felica	NO
Other	bluetooth (handsfree only), full browser
Colours	matt black

SoftBank 2007 Spring - 813SH by Sharp

the 813SH from Sharp is the sibling of the 812SH with the only difference being that it comes without a camera. based towards the business scene and the prevention of information leakage, this model is based towards the user who might have to enter areas where mobiles with cameras are not permitted.

up until now, SoftBank had only offered a camera-less phone on 2G and this is its first on its 3G service. all functions, apart from those like the face recognition that obviously derive from the camera, are the same as the 812SH.

Model	813SH
Maker	Sharp
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.4 inch QVGA ASV (240x320)
Camera	none
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	97 x 49 x 17.6 mm
Weight	104g
Felica	YES
Other	bluetooth, full browser
Colours	matt black, pearl white

SoftBank 2007 Spring - Hawks Keitai

the 'Hawks Keitai', a special colaboration with Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks is a special edition of 812SH from Sharp. it comes with the logo on the front and special contents inside to keep fans of the baseball team happy. it will be on sale from late March and the first 5000 people lucky enough to purchase one will also get a Hawks Keitai Holder.

Model	Hawks Keitai (812SH)
Maker	Sharp
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.4 inch QVGA ASV (240x320)
Camera	2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	97 x 49 x 17.6 mm
Weight	105g
Felica	YES
Other	bluetooth, full browser, face recognition
Colours	Hawks White

SoftBank 2007 Spring - 812SH by Sharp

white, beige, yellow, pink, vivid pink, red, purple, orange, green, mint green, light blue, blue, navy, brown, grey, black, gold, silver, metal blue, pearl pink. these are the 20 colours that result from the collaboration with Pantone, a company better known for producing colour charts.the phone itself is designed for ease of use of use, adopting 'arch ridge keys' that are easy to press. it supports bluetooth, Felica and a full browser, and also allows face recognition security.

Model	812SH
Maker	Sharp
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	2.4 inch QVGA ASV (240x320)
Camera	2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	97 x 49 x 17.6 mm
Weight	105g
Felica	YES
Other	bluetooth, full browser, face recognition
Colours	white, beige, yellow, pink, vivid pink, red, purple, orange, green, mint green, light blue, blue, navy, brown, grey, black, gold, silver, metal blue, pearl pink.

SoftBank 2007 Spring - 911T by Toshiba

when au announced the W52T that nearly has it all, i was quite impressed and began to consider it for my next phone. but looking at this handset for SoftBank from Toshiba, i very quickly started to go off the W52T. (not that i would switch carriers!) basically where the W52T nearly has it all, the 911T actually does 'have it all'!

1 seg, 3 inch screen, bluetooth, 1GB of internal memory, 3.2 mp camera, Felica is what they share in common, but the phone shown above also adds HSDPA, and although not confirmed on the official press release, ITmedia +D mobile is claiming it supports Document Viewer - horizontal veiw none the less. whats more, Toshiba has managed to squeeze all this into 17.9mm, a whole 4.1mm thinner than the au model.so as you can see, function-wise a much more attractive phone than the W52T, however one thing i am not particularly worried about is the fact that SoftBank will also over a O Rokr Special Package, which comes with Oakley's fairly hideous bluetooth sunglasses/earphones.

Model	911T
Maker	Toshiba
Network	SoftBank - 3G (W-CDMA)
Display	3 inch WQVGA TFT (480x800)
Camera	3.2 megapixels
External Memory	microSD card
Dimensions - h w d	112 x 51 x 17.9 mm
Weight	145g
Felica	YES
Other	1 seg, BT, HSDPA, 1GB internal, O Rokr set
Colours	black, silver, white, red

SoftBank announce 2007 Spring lineup

towards the end of last month, SoftBank where the last of the three main carriers to announce their Spring lineup. going along with SoftBanks claims at the press conference, the highlights are as follows:

• 14 models, 58 colours.
• worlds thinnest (W-CDMA) mobile - 8.4mm
• worlds most advanced 1seg keitai, Japans thinnest slide type 1seg keitai.
• world first simultaneous release of 20 colours for a mobile phone.

again SoftBank are making a big deal out of colour variations and when you look at the actual models, '14 models' is actually stretching it a bit. if you read through the articles you will understand why, but claiming 14 models is again a bit dubious.
the models in the photo above are (left to right) :
top row: 911T by Toshiba, 812SH from Sharp, Hawks Keitai by Sharp, 813SH from Sharp, 813SH for Biz by Sharp.
middle row: 813 from Toshiba, 706N by NEC, 706P from Panasonic, kodomobile 812T by Toshiba, 708SC from Samsung
bottom: X01NK from Nokia (Nokia E61)

missing from the photo is 805SC from Samsung, 707SC II by Samsung and the 707SC Swarovski Crystal Version from Samsung. these three models have not been given a clear release date as yet.

Ueto Aya joins SoftBank Mobile team

back in August when SoftBank Mobile announced their new logo, in this post i asked the question whether they might use Ueto Aya to promote their phones. well, i don't think i'll go as far to claim that President Son is actually reading this blog, but i am happy to tell you that along with fellow actress Kikukawa Rei, Ueto Aya has been strutting her stuff at the launch of SoftBank's spring models.
one of the new spring handsets, the 812SH from Sharp, comes in 20 colour variations and to mark this, the press launch was done in the style of a fashion show, with each of the models wearing clothes matching the colours of the 20 colour variations of the phone. as you can see in the picture above, Ueto Aya has a pink phone in her hand, and the photo below indicates more clearly why pink.