Virtual keyboard for sale this year in Japan

Wonder what PDA OS will be supported? Presumably Pocket PCs. Trouble with this (admittedly first generation) keyboard is that you will need a lot of free flat space to make it usable and a cradle for the Pocket PC to make it practical.

@FreeD - DoCoMo's Flat Rate Wireless Data Service Launched

DoCoMo's flat rate cards and packages, dubbed @FreeD, hit the market on Tuesday 1st April. The current cost is 4,680 yen/month ($39) until 30th June and then 4,880 yen. During this period there are no sign up charges. You also need to have an ISP which supports the service and to purchase one of the two cards available, which are about 6,000 or 8,000 yen.

In my experience, it took about an hour to activate the card after purchase as the activation centre was busy due to strong demand for the new product. No additional software or drivers were required for installation on my Pocket PC. Simply plug it in, configure the dial settings are you are done. After two days of use I'm very happy. Streaming live radio (e.g. from the Pocket PC page for the UK's Virgin Radio) works fine when stationary, and even when on a moving train it worked well until you enter a tunnel or other area were there is no signal. At this point the connection does not drop but goes into a sort of standby status and then is automatically re-established when there is a signal without the need to re-dial. Web surfing using Pocket IE works well and MSN and Yahoo! Messenger worked flawlessly.

Overall the value of such a card will depend on how much you will be using it, but it certainly makes a difference having a flat rate connected Pocket PC. Of course AirH" have had such cards available for some time and it wil be interesting to see performance comparisons. ZDNet Japan has done a number of reports and comparisons. (Japanese only).

NEC to exit PDA Business in Japan

Here's the story. It's kind of a shame as the device they planned to release in November 2001 would have been a market leader. I had decided to buy it as soon as it came on the market. Unfortunately the release was delayed until December and then the following March! By that time the new Genio e550G and Fujitsu Pocket LOOX had been announced and the NEC device was a generation old. It's not surprising that it didn't sell well after that. NEC are one of the only vendors to have released both Palm and Windows CE devices. They have a lot of experience with mobile phones so hopefully they will bounce back in a few years as PDAs and phones converge.

Pocket PCs/Windows CE Devices Take 49% of Japanese PDA Market in 2002

Gartner have released figures for the PDA market in Japan in 2002. Windows CE based devices including Pocket PCs take an amazing 49% share compared to 36% in 2001. The CNet article notes the interesting transfer of market share from the Sharp Zaurus in 2000 to Palm in 2001 to Windows CE based devices in 2002. The whole PDA market shrank 21% in 2002 but are estimating, given the prospect that Dell with enter the Japanese market, 6.3% growth.

CNet Japan
Gartner Press Release
WindowsCE Fan
ZDNet

Pocket PC Japan FAQ Updated - v1.0

I've updated the Pocket PC Japan FAQ (text version) and as there is now quite a bit of info in there I'm giving it a 1.0 version number. Comments, suggestions and questions are welcome.

Note: The current site template is temporary and some links are missing. The discussion group is here.

The Japan PDA Content Revolution

It seems that not much more than a few months ago there was hardly any good Japanese content for PDAs. Things look considerably different now. Three Japan-only readers for the Pocket PC (Bunko Viewer, T-Time and Xiino NewsViewer) are leading the market and the content market is exploding. In terms of news, all of Japan's major news publishers are jumping in with PDA content. Just this month Nikkei and Asahi have announced new content offerings using the Xiino NewsViewer to add to Yomiuri and Mainichi who have had offerings for some time. And these aren't just once-a-day-update, black and white, text-only headlines you might have become accustomed to - the content is colorful, contains pictures and is updated as often as once every 15 minutes in the case of Asahi. The reader software is user friendly and you can store the content on a memory card so no need to worry about filling up your RAM. The content costs only around 300 to 600 yen ($3-$6) a month and with some publishers offering free samples and opening campaigns now is a good time to be taking a look.

News is not the only category expanding, the appearance of both fiction and non-fiction books is also exploding. PDABook as its name suggests provides a wide range of books designed especially for PDAs. Airbitway is another company giving the market a great boost with a very well designed store. Not only content, their offering is an impressive line-up divided into news, magazines, comics, books, applications & utilities, games, interest & lifestyle, learning, maps & guides and characters & backgrounds. And you really know when something is taking off when Japan's largest mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo launches an impressive eBook portal - M-stage book - that has obviously taken significant investment (and has a number of good free samples to try out). Not only that, but they are also supporting the emerging format for mobile content in Japan XDMF. Later this year you can expect to be able to view this format on DoCoMo mobile phones which can only boost the overall mobile content market, and there is plenty of space for both phones and PDAs to compete as the platform of choice. Further good news, is that readers with integrated dictionaries, which are not currently available for the commercial content, are also expected within the next few months.

As a final note it is interesting to note how once again, Japan held back for so long on entering this market, but now they have done so the move is powerful and compelling. With commercial audio content already available for download to SD cards at convenience store kiosks, you can be sure it won't be long until the mobile PDA market evolves from text and graphic content to full audio and video content just a few clicks away from your mobile unit of choice.

Toshiba is holding another seminar this month. Presentations (roughly translated from Japanese) include:

Examples of practical mobile use of the Genio

Introducing 'Format designer': Mobilizing office documents without programming

Working with graphic data using 'Web-FIS' and displaying blueprints in vector mode with 'XDF View Ce'

Synchronizing Notes data to a PDA using XTNDConnect

Benefit of using mobile databases in mobile systems: How 'PointBase expands the possibilities for mobile systems

Introducing solutions for secure eBusiness environments

Exhibitors, in addition to those already presenting and Genio products, include:

MobileCamera - Handy surveillance camera system

SWANStor - Secure mobile solutions

TransForce - Still and video picture compression and delivery for mobile devices

Toshiba innovates again - new Genio

Just look at the new Genios from Toshiba. Important new features include in-built camera or full dictionary (depending on the model), 128MB RAM (of course), latest processor, great screen, bundled screen cover, side scroll button, wireless LAN VoIP application and dual function microphone/headphone jack. The only things missing that some people really want is a replacable battery and in-built Bluetooth or 802.11x. Finally they seem to have made some changes to the control pad on the front. I find the direction hard to control accurately on the e550G so will be interested to try the new one.

For a lots of opinions on the device see the Pocket PC Thoughts Forums, athough I don't think the rumors of updates to the OS hear are correct. For me one of the most important things about this device is that it really keeps Toshiba Japan head-to-head against Compaq in the battle for the highest spec and most innovative devices. If either company could work out simultaneous worldwide releases they would be on to a real winner. The other important point is that there are lots of small improvements to this device which really show that Toshiba are in touch with the market and what users really want.

Mobility Day and Programming

Some interesting links (Japanese only). Microsoft's Mobility Day is an event to help businesses work out how they can use mobile solutions for business. For anyone thinking of getting into Pocket PC programming, there is an introductory guide here. If you are already a seasoned programmer consider entering the Windows CE Fan Software 2003 Contest which has as it's sponsors most of the big name Pocket PC supporters in Japan that you could think of.

DoCoMo Plans Always-On Net Service for PDAs, Notebook PCs

Details of DoCoMo's much awaited always on, flat rate mobile internet connection service due to start on April 1st are here. What the article doesn't mention is that the similar priced service by KDDI is only 32kbps, although KDDI also have 25 hour 128kbps plans for around the same price and flat rate 128kbps plans for around double. KDDI's cards are know not only for being flat rate but for being able to maintain the connection on a moving train and pick up a dropped connection straight away (for example after passing through a tunnel). It will be very interesting to see whether DoCoMo can match or beat the KDDI service in terms of usability. The current PHS cards can't keep the connection on the move and when the connection is dropped a redial is required. The other question is whether anyone will want to invest in the cards which come out in April when new cards (is that what they mean by device?) will be probably required for the Mzone service in June. DoCoMo have a record of making it difficult and offering financial penalties rather than rewards for people who want to upgrade CF cards.

To see what DoCoMo is doing in terms of providing content for PDAs, see their flashy M-Stage site (Japanese only). The 100 yen (US$1) charge seems great until you remember that you have to pay by the minute for access. A flat rate service will make it much more attractive.

Flashing the e550G with an English ROM

There is a post at the NCMCS Forums stating the the Toshiba e550G can be flashed with an English ROM including links to theBrighthand forums, where it looks like there is some good info, and the GenioE Fan Page. In addition to the Brighthand forums there are also forums for Toshiba devices including the e550 at Pocket PC Thoughts and Pocket PC PDA. Flashing the ROM is useful for anyone who wants to get an 'only-in-Japan' device with an English OS, but unfortunately doesn't really help those who want a fully Japanese capable English OS device.

Gundam Network Game

For any gamers among you out there 'GNO Gundam' has been making the headlines over the last few days. Win CE Fan (Japanese) has good reviews and links to other sites. The reason for the headlines? Win CE Fan is saying this is the the first multiplayer network game for the Pocket PC. As PDAs (or phones) get more powerful and cheaper and fast mobile data network access more ubiquitous, I can see a huge market for networked, multiplayer games for mobile devices like this. If Nintendo aren't in the field already I'm sure they will be soon but I would guess that having a real operating system like Pocket PC on which to play the game offers a lot more potential than there would be on a gaming only device. Discussion welcome in the discussion group.

Power Extender

Power Extender is a backup power supply for different types of PDAs. Doesn't look too big so wouldn't be burdensome to carry when travelling. If they continue to provide new adapters it will also not become redundant when you change your PDA. Pocket Games looks like a very good site to buy useful accessories like this. They also claim 'we export almost anything' so is a good option for people outside Japan who wanted to get hold of products only available here.

New Casio Pocket PC - E3000

Casio have announced their first Pocket PC 2002 device which will be released at the end of March in Japan. There had been rumours that they would leave the Pocket PC market but it doesn't seem so, which is good news given that only Toshiba, Fujitsu, DoCoMo, HP and NEC are the only other companies currently selling Pocket PCs here. Unfortunately the device looks decidely boring adding hardly any interesting features compared to other Pocket PC 2002 devices which have already been on the market for the best part of a year. For comparison purposes I'll use Toshiba's latest model, the Genio e550GX. (Toshiba is the Pocket PC market leader in Japan and the e500GX is the highest spec Pocket PC on the market here).

First the good points. They are claiming a 15 hour battery (compared to 10 at 400MHz for the e550GX) life or 30 hours with the optional higher capacity battery. For IR users they claim a maximum transmission speed of 4Mbps (compared to 115.2kbps). The screen type literally translate as 'LED backlit semi-transmissive TFT color LCD' and from the pictures it looks good. The text says it works well outdoors but I'll leave it to the screen gurus to judge whether this is any better than the e550GX's 'frontlit, reflective, low temperature polysilicon TFT'. Finally the E3000 has 6 hardware buttons, a 5 way directional pad and a two way scroll contrl on the side. The Genio only has the five hardware buttons and this makes one-handed operation much more difficult.

Now for the not so good points. The physical hardware specs which are very important in a PDA look particularly poor compared to the Genio:
3.5" screen compared to 4"
78�~135�~17.6mm compared to 76.5 x 125 �~ 15.9mm
190g compared to 170g

The processor is the now standard (for any new devices) XScale 400 Mhz PX250, but the device has only 64MB of RAM compared to 128MB for the e550GX

Win CE Fan is saying that the device will be around the 60,000 yen mark which will probably make it a bit cheaper than the Genio but only by a few thousand yen. If Dell, ViewSonic or HP ever decide to enter the market with their lower end devices they will really shake things up. The Casio does have both a CF and SD memory (no mention of SD-IO) slots which you would expect for a device of this size.

The bundled software certainly contains no surprises. The only minor difference from other makers is Casio's own schedule, address book and mail software which can be downloaded. Notable ommissions are map, text to speech software and Java.

Overall it's good to see more support for the Pocket PC market here which should lead to more services and accessories targetted at the platform.

Related links:
Casio Press Release (Japanese)
e3000 Product Page on the Casio site (Japanese)
Pocket PC Thoughts Post and Discussion (English)
Win CE Fan Announcement and Review (Japanese)

Genio eBusiness Solutions Seminar - 4th February 2003

Toshiba will be holding another eBusiness Solutions seminar on the 39th Floor of their Tokyo headquarters on Tuesday 4th February 2003. The seminar program look good if you have any particular interests but the exhibition floor featuring 25 companies will also be well worth a visit. It is worthwhile visiting a show like this to see what products and services you can expect in the near future. Companies include those involved in mobile mapping, GPS, data communications, business solutions and other peripheral and software vendors. Of course Toshiba will be strongly represented with the Genio and services and solutions offered by different divisions of the company. Toshiba had held a number of similar seminars over the last year and strongly support third party seminars and expos which really shows their commitment to the PDA market. For more details and to sign up see the this web page (Japanese only).