New Carrier (EMOBILE), New Device (Sharp EM-ONE)

EMOBILE (Japanese) have announced they will launch their 3.6 Mbps HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) from March 31 in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kyoto with other areas to follow later in the year. The sexy Sharp EM-ONE (Japanese)Windows Mobile device from Sharp will also be released to work with the service at the same time. (A PC Card will also be available with Express Cards and CF cards on the way).

The EM-ONE's key features are:

• a 4.1" Wide VGA (800×480) screen
• dual slide including keyboard, cursor button, pointing device and scroll wheel
• 1-seg tuner for mobile digital TV
• Windows Mobile 5.o
• Marvell® PXA270 520MHｚ CPU
  
• NVIDIA GoForce™ 5500 graphics accelerator
• Stereo speakers and microphone
• 1 x Mini-SD card slot
• 512MB of flash memory and 128MB SDRAM
• 1.3 megapixel camera
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
  
• 140mm×70mm×18.9mm and 250g
• Additional bundled software including J-E dictionary, Opera Mobile and barcode reader
• 4 hour battery life!
  

A great looking device, the site is really pushing the mobile internet and entertainment features. The 4 hour battery life is a bit worrying though!

The device will cost from 95,000 yen (US$860) to 39,000 yen (US$350) if you take out a 2 year contract. The flat rate plans will be 5,980 yen (US$55) a month or 4,980 (US$45) a month with a 1 year contract. The pricing looks competitive compared to both Willcom's PHS and DoCoMo and Softbank's flat rate plans, but note this won't be a phone.

It's great to see exciting options like this appearing for people who want to access the internet on the move. Let's see how Softbank, DoCoMo, Willcom and AU respond!

Update

Some photos (taken with my phone) of the EM-ONE for sale at BIC Camera in advance of the official launch:

New Windows Mobile Devices for Japan - HTC Athena and Toshiba

Along with the announcement of Windows Mobile 6 at 3GSM in Barcelona, we are starting to hear news of new devices soon to hit the shelves.

Not officially announced yet, but the HTC Athena device looks very interesting. There are some YouTube videos on the HTC Fan site (Japanese).

It was also reported in the Nikkei this morning that Softbank is looking to release phones from Toshiba like those announced at 3GSM:

• Pocket PC Thoughts Article
• IT Pro Article
• Google search for 'Toshiba G900'

More news as we get it.

Windows Mobile 6 to be Announced Monday

It's been officially announced that Windows Mobile 6 will be announced on Monday. (Yes - an announcement about an announcement ;-) so we will start seeing official reviews of the betas all over the the web from today.

Joel over at geek.com has a well written, concise overview of some of the new features. Well worth a read and I look forward to seeing the follow up article.

As soon as we get any news on new hardware in Japan with Windows Mobile 6 we'll be posting here so stay tuned.

Spb Welcomes Japanese Users

It's great to see overseas developers developing for the Japanese market. Spb have a great range of products including Spb Backup,Spb Diary, Spb Finance, Spb GPRS Monitor, Spb Insight, Spb Mobile DVD, Spb Pocket Plus, Spb Time and Spb Weather. A message from their newsletter:

Spb Software House extends the Asian languages support. Japanese customers are very important for our company and this is why Japanese is one more language officially supported by Spb Software House. We are happy to inform our Japanese customers that from now on they can use their favorite products in their mother tongue!

Spb Website in Japanese
Spb Website in English

New Technical Preview Version of NetFront Browser unitl January 31st

ACCESS CO., a Japanese company famous for their mobile browsers have released a technical preview of version 3.4 of the NetFront browser. A couple of interesting sounding features from the press release:

"The technical preview version also includes a new, improved Page Pilot™ feature, which allows users to quickly zoom in on any area of a Web page. Also featured is Visual Bookmark an advanced technology that allows users to easily select a bookmark through a thumbnail image."

The Page Pilot feature looks nice really nice. I've used similar features in RepliGo and other mobile browsers and it can can really make a big improvement when reading full sized pages on a small screen.

The preview version expires on January 31. Not much time to try it!

Windows Mobile Fan Evening Tokyo - 6 Feb. 2007

Here's the details of an upcoming event. Anyone using or interested in Windows Mobile is welcome to attend. Bring your device(s) ;-)

(Announcement in Japanese)

=====
An evening event for fans and users of Windows Mobile phones, such as the X01HT from Softbank and the W-ZERO3 series from Willcom. Whether you are a current user or interested in finding out more, come along to mix, mingle and share tips and tricks with an users and experts from both the Japanese and international community.

Featuring a demo of Mobile Device Center in Windows Vista and a Windows Mobile Q&A session.

Jointly organized by Windows Mobile Japan & htc Fan Site (Japanese)

Date: Tuesday February 6
Time: 7pm 'til late
Cost: 1000 yen, light snacks included (Cash bar and delicious a-la-carte food also available)
Expected attendance: 30 people
Venue: The Pink Cow, Shibuya (www.thepinkcow.com)

Schedule
18:45-19:00　Reception open
19:00-19:30　A demo of the Mobile Device Centre feature of Windows Vista
19:30-20:00　Q&A (Ask about using, buying or setup of Windows Mobile)
20:00-22:00　Netwokring and chat with other users.

Please RSVP here.

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.

HTC Screen Alignment Troubles Overseas

If you have any troubles with the touch screen alignment on your DoCoMo or Softbank HTC device (as some people have reported overseas), you an either fix yourself as Larry from Palm is Life shows, or just take it back to the shop ... the choice is yours, but I know which option I would choose.

(Please note WMiJ does not take responsibility for any broken devices, etc. ;-)

Softbank HTC X01TC Flat Rate Plan Details

A joint press release held today by Softbank, HTC and Microsoft officially announced that the Softbank HTC X01HT will go on sale from October 14 and gave details of a new flat rate data plan.

Users pay a max of 10,290 yen (approx. US$85) for flat rate 3G. The HDSPA connection using the X01HT offers a maximum (best effort) download speed of 1.8Mbps and uplink speed of 384Kbps. The special campaign price until January 2007 will be 5,700 yen (US$47). The X01TC hardware itself will be priced between 20,000 and 30,000 yen (US$166-250). Supposedly you will not be able to make use of the flat rate data plan when using the X01TC as a modem for other devices.

Softbank stressed the main benefits of the HTC X01HT as being the usability of a PC, information access (i.e. access to the 'full' internet), and a high speed connection. They are aiming the X01HT at business men in their 20's and 30's who already use the internet a lot . Compared to DoCoMo and Willcom they stressed the advantages of the high speed connection and wide global roaiming area.

Softbank are also offering easy download access to anti-virus and security software from Symantec and McAffee.