The 2007 Outlook for Windows Mobile in Japan Starts to Take Picture

Good spot by new contributor Stingraze on the Softbank logos at the HTC booth at Akibax (see previous post). Very telling indeed.


The gathering of Windows Mobile fans around the HTC booth certainly brough with it it's fair share of rumors adding meat to the Microsoft announcement of 10 Windows Mobile devices in Japan by the end of 2007.


Among the tales, adding to the tell-tale Softbank logos at the HTC booth, were more HTC devices from Softbank in 2007 ... and did I also hear the words 'Softbank' and 'Toshiba' in the same breath ????


It's also hard to say anything about when AU will join the Windows Mobile Japan pack ......... except ........ watch this space ;-)


It was good to see the fan base there to support HTC at the booth including two of the guys behind the newly launched htc Fan site (www.htc-fan.jp - Japanese only) and Gzh (PDA & Smartphone Information Blog Site and Mobile Devices MVP).

(Small aside: Ironically although I'm almost permanently using my HTC Hermes as a day to day phone, I still carry around my Mitsubishi D902i just for the great camera used to take the photograph above and also more recently pictures of the great Christmas lights in Tokyo. Here's hoping HTC can up the stakes in the quality camera race).

HTC booth Akibax 2006

Akibax 2006 - a 3 day Microsft sponsored event in the heart of Akihabra - kicked off today stepping up the excitement around Windows Vista and Office 2007 , scheduled to come out in January, 2007 as well as other Microsoft technologies. Vendors such as Nvidia, HTC, ATI, and Wacom were showing off their technology in Akiba_Square.

The HTC booth was quite interesting, especially as they had a number of overseas models for Japanese consumers to drool over. The interesting thing was that the Softbank logo was in many of them, which might be hinting that they might use it in their next product line. HTC PR did not say which carrier will be using their device, but this might be some sort of a clue on their future lineup in Japan.

IBS Japan's miniClient Solution (Japanese link) was very fascinating. This is a device that uses Cirrus Logic's EP9307 (ARM920T 200Mhz) to send RGB picture data of such as a presentation wirelessly over Wifi and microSD (still under development) from a Windows Mobile device such as the X01HT.

More photos

Windows Mobile Promotion Program for Businesses

Microsoft Japan is current running 3 programs to help promote Windows Moile in Japan.

1. Mobile Starter Kit
2. Windows Mobile Evaluation Program
3. Mobile Proposal Service

Mobile Starter's Kit

For those thinking of investing in mobile. Microsoft will send a bundle of information about security, maximizing your investment and lowering data communications cost. You must register to get this at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5894497 (Japanese only)

Windows Mobile Evaluation Program
In this program, every month 10 companies seeking to evalutate the Windows Mobile devices will receive 3 loaner devices (W-ZERO3(es), hTC Z and X01HT), a trial MS Exchange account and free communication costs.

More information at: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5894498 (Japanese only)

Mobile Proposal Service
A limited number of selected companies that are seriously thinking about Windows Mobile will free consulting from the Microsoft Consulting Partner.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=5894499 (Japanese only)

It's great to see innovative programs from Microsoft to help catalyze the 'Windows Keitai' market.

1st Anniversary Event for Windows Mobile Phones in Japan

Microsoft Japan today kicked off a 2 day event in Marunouchi, the heart of Tokyo's business district, to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of Windows mobile phones in Japan. The event does mark an important milestone. From zero to three of four of Japan's main carriers with Windows Mobile devices in just one year. The NTT DoCoMo presenter commented that when he saw a Windows Mobile device in Redmond just a few years ago he never imagined he would one day be in Japan talking abut Windows Mobile phones. Willcom, NTT DoCoMo and Softbank all had booths showing off their devices. There were also a few applications on show which marks a revival in the interest of software developers after the death of the PDA market in Japan in 2004-2005 which I'm sure many of them lost out from.

The event marked another turning point in Microsoft's attempts to market Windows Mobile devices to a wider audience. To date, the power users and the buzz have done most of the marketing with little in the way of campaigns or events. Outside the booth area, staff were passing out information packs to passers by. As I walked by listening to conversations a common scenario was one out of a group of businessmen explaining Windows Mobile to the others, "It's like a small PC, you can do your email, browse the web and check office documents". Others uttered the phrase 'Windows keitai ???' in a puzzled tone. (Keitai is used in a similar way 'mobile' is used in English. By using the term windows keitai, Microsoft will likely find t easier to market Windows Mobile devices in Japan. Windows Keitai Fan happens to be the name of the top web site dedicated to Windows Mobile devices in Japan and is run by the people behind Windows CE Fan which has been around since the early days of Microsoft PDAs in the 90's.

The good news for Windows Mobile fans in Japan, Microsoft said they plan to release different form factors and have a total of 10 devices (but still 3 carriers) on the market in 2007. Lot's to look forward to.

More photos on Flickr from Kastuo2006.

HTC Booth at Akibax 2006

After a break since Summer 2001, Akibax - an electronics festival held in the hear of Akihabara, Tokyo - will be back on from 22-24 December. Windows Vista is the major sponsor.

Windows Mobile PDA phone and Smartphone maker HTC will have a booth there. In addition to showing off their own DoCoMo and Softbank devices there will be demos of:

• Plantronics showing off Bluetotth headsets
• Jorudan train route planning service
• B-walker navigation service
• Slingbox streaming television and video service
• Direct Push Mail

The Japanese Press Release (Google English translation)
The official site (not live at the time of posting)

Video of the HTC-Z

A nice video of the DoCoMo HTC-Z (aka Hermes, X01HT) from the staff at Wireless Watch Japan

X01HT and Tokyo Mobile Technology Event in Tokyo

On Tuesday the December 12 at 7pm there will be a small get-together to discuss the X01HT, software, usage, access, ROMs, and general Tokyo mobile technology.

For details and sign up instructions see here.