Japan’s three big mobile carriers are offering more than 100 handsets per year, and some of them are quite unique. The latest limited edition is the Sharp SH-09C [JP], a handset developed in cooperation with French luxury crystal glass maker Baccarat and distributed by mobile carrier NTT Docomo. → Read More
Way back in October 2008, we reported about a cell phone that featured a built-in mini projector. The cell phone was showcased by Japan’s biggest mobile carrier, NTT Docomo, as a prototype. But today, the same carrier announced [JP] that such a spectacular handset will finally go on sale in Japan this Friday. → Read More
In August, we reported that NTT Docomo, Japan’s biggest mobile carrier, is ready to invest a whopping $3.4 billion through 2012 in an LTE service the company has named “Xi” (which is read Crossy). And over the weekend (and as announced previously), the company finally rolled out said service [press release in English]. → Read More
Back in April, Japan’s largest cell phone carrier, NTT DoComo, began running a bizarre promotion campaign in Tokyo (which prompted me to go out and post this photo report on MobileCrunch). Docomo used Darth Vader in a number of weird posters and viral video clips, without saying why and what Vader was supposed to promote. → Read More
We’ve already shown you some cool cell phones Japan’s biggest mobile carrier, NTT Docomo, plans to roll out in the next few months (see the list below for a recap). But there were quite a few more worth mentioning in the company’s new winter line-up (in English). Here are all of them (I left out simple updates, rebranded versions etc.). → Read More
That wooden cell phone wasn’t the only silly cell phone Sharp introduced today in Japan. It was actually joined by a slightly sillier handset, the so-called “Bisqui Phon”. Yes, it’s shaped like a biscuit for some reason. Sharp seems to like manufacturing these things. → Read More
No comment on the branding, but Sharp will soon [JP] produce a cell phone whose body is made entirely of wood, namely Japanese cypress. According to Sharp, the handset is not a joke product but actually built for long-term usage, meaning buyers won’t have to fear mold and other things. → Read More
If you needed one more piece of evidence that Japan is crazy about everything mobile, here it is: the country’s leading mobile carrier today announced [JP] a system that provides user-specific instructions to home gardeners via cell phones and special “garden sensors”. NEC is a partner in the pilot project, which actually began last Saturday in 30 selected households in Japan. → Read More
One of the “sub trends” of this year’s CEATEC exhibition (that’s currently taking place near Tokyo) is augmented reality, especially among the telecommunications companies. Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo is experimenting with an AR technology (developed by Olympus in 2008) called AR Walker. → Read More
With 55 million customers, the 800-pound gorilla in the world’s most advanced mobile society, Japan, is NTT Docomo. And over the weekend, the company made clear it wants to retain its position in an LTE future: Docomo is ready to invest $3.4 billion in the next three years to build base stations and will start an LTE service in December this year (as the first of Japan’s three major carriers). → Read More
Big shake up in Japan’s cell phone industry (100 million mobile subscribers) today: NTT Docomo, the country’s leading carrier (55 million customers), is planning to make all of its cell phones SIM free as early as April 2011 (the start of the new fiscal year in most Japanese companies). → Read More
Japan has been flooded with new cell phones over the last few days. We’ve shown you KDDI au’s 10 new handsets Monday, SoftBank Mobile’s 13 new models yesterday, and now it’s time for NTT Docomo‘s summer lineup. Japan’s biggest mobile carrier (55 million) unveiled 20 new cell phones [press release in English] yesterday, some of which are just awesome.
Here’s Docomo’s complete line-up for this summer. → Read More
NTT DoComo, Japan’s largest cell phone carrier (55 million customers), is currently running a pretty bizarre viral promotion campaign in this country (both on- and offline). The company has set up a weird website [JP] that, for some strange reason, shows Darth Vader running around Tokyo and asking who’s his boss (“Who is my boss” is the official tag line of the campaign). → Read More
Just last week, we asked the question if the world needs yet another mobile operating system (Samsung’s Bada). Now it turns out Japan’s biggest cell phone carrier, NTT DoCoMo, apparently thinks the answer is yes. The telecom behemoth (55 million customers in Japan) today announced [press release in English] the development of a brand new “application platform for mobile phones”, which is planned to go global, too. → Read More
It’s not that there’s a shortage of mobile projectors, but when DoCoMo (Japan’s biggest cell phone carrier) announces [JP] a model for its 55 million customers, it deserves a mention. DoCoMo specifically suggests using the F01 with Fujitsu’s uber-cool “Separate Keitai”, a cell phone that breaks into two parts (and that’s currently available on the Japanese market only). → Read More
For years, Japan was the innovation leader in the cell phone industry, until South Korea and the US started catching up rapidly. If you look back at what Nippon’s mighty carriers have released in the past few months, you mainly see super-powerful handsets with large OLED screens, 12MP cameras, Blu-ray recorder connectivity, double digital TV tuners, etc.
But the form factor never really changes, as the majority of Japanese consumers still demands clamshell phones with jog dials enabling them to conveniently thumb-text emails. But if a country churns out 100 different handsets per year, there have to be some exceptions. And the most notable exception (that now has been priced and dated) is Fujitsu’s F-04B featuring the world’s first separable two-module body. → Read More
You know when a given country, in this case the nation of Japan, is over-saturated with cell phones when you get to see something like this: A cell phone that’s supposed to be similar in shape to a chocolate bar, available in two versions: Melty Bitter (brown) and Melty Strawberry (pink). The Sharp SH-04B [JP] is part of NTT Docomo’s winter line-up of new handsets for the Japanese market (unveiled ten days ago). → Read More
Faster data access with virtually no latency: LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile broadband networks are coming, at least in the world’s most advanced mobile market, the nation of Japan. The country’s biggest cell phone carrier, NTT Docomo, said yesterday at GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong it will go fourth generation as early as December 2010. → Read More
Following KDDI’s announcement three weeks ago, Japan’s biggest cell phone carrier NTT Docomo today unveiled [JP] its winter-line up of cell phones (SoftBank, the No.3, did the same). And here are all the new models announced by Docomo for the Japanese market today.
Update:
Head over to NTT Docomo’s English web site for another overview of their new phones. → Read More
Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, the country’s biggest mobile phone subscriber with over 50 million subscribers, is considering fully entering the American cell phone market – as early as next year. Various Japanese media are reporting that the company plans to offer phones featuring DoCoMo’s proprietary mobile web service “i-mode” in the USA (the picture shows phones from their Japanese summer line-up). → Read More
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