July 14 - 10:20am EDT   Japanese interest in the iPhone 3G surged to where more than one in seven Japanese phone customers has been considering an iPhone, according to a survey published today by iSHARE and conducted at the end of June. The researchers note that while a pre-announcement study showed just 8.9 percent of buyers considering an iPhone, that number has since climbed to 14.5 percent, a jump of about 63 percent in just a few weeks. Existing subscribers with official iPhone carrier SoftBank are disproportionately more likely to want the device, with exactly one in five (20 percent) likely to buy while just 10 percent of those with other providers mulling a switch of carriers to get ... [full story]

July 7 - 7:55am EDT   Japan's dominant cell carrier NTT DoCoMo on Monday said it has started BlackBerry Internet Service, giving the carrier its first implementation of Research in Motion's push e-mail network for home users as well as for small companies that don't require their own servers. The service needs a specific phone, the BlackBerry 8707h, but supports both e-mail and web access on the provider's cellular network. [full story]

June 24 - 7:35am EDT   Nokia this morning changed the mobile industry by purchasing the remainder of Symbian that it hasn't previously owned and establishing the Symbian Foundation, an organization meant to unify and promote the Symbian OS for cellphones. The group includes phone makers that already produce Symbian phones such as LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson; it also includes carriers such as AT&T, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone as well as semiconductor firms STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments. Despite Nokia's purchase, the company is putting Symbian and Series 60 in the hands of the Foundation and will give any current or future member royalty-free rights to use the platform. [full story]

June 20 - 10:05am EDT   NTT DoCoMo is defending its inability to secure an iPhone deal, writes Japan's Impress Watch. Speaking at a shareholder meeting, DoCoMo CEO Masao Nakamura has stated that while the iPhone is attractive and has an appealing fanbase, many of its features are already present on the likes of LG's Prada touchscreen phone, or the Sharp SH906i. The first iPhone was also unusually heavy, says Nakamura, although he appreciates that the 3G model weighs only 4.7 ounces. [full story]

June 18 - 12:20pm EDT   Despite the relative success of the iPod in Japan, the iPhone 3G isn't likely to get an immediate footing in the country, according to a new iSHARE study. Of the Japanese adults polled, 91 percent say they have no plans to buy the device when it becomes available on July 11th. Of the remaining nine percent, nearly all (8.9 percent of the total) said they planned to purchase the device. Slightly under half of these are users already signed up for SoftBank, the carrier picked for the initial Japanese launch. [full story]

June 4 - 7:10am EDT   SoftBank today said it has an agreement carry the iPhone, making it the first provider in Japan to offer the device. The company follows in step with past carrier announcements and doesn't reveal launch information, saying only that the Apple phone will be available "later this year." SoftBank's announcement confirms the imminent announcement of a 3G-capable iPhone, as all Japanese networks use 3G technology (WCDMA and faster) exclusively for calling as well as data. [full story]

May 27 - 3:15pm EDT   NTT DoCoMo today announced it will release 19 new handsets in its new FOMA 906i- and 706i-series this summer. The eight flagship 906i phones are highly featured and sport capabilities North American mobile markets are not yet supporting. This includes the DCMX mobile credit card and iD mobile credit payments, as well as 1Seg mobile TV streaming on their Full Wide VGA (typically 800x480) screens. [full story]

May 19 - 9:25am EDT   Two Asian countries may be engaging in an unusual deal in order to secure the iPhone, according to rumors. Japan's NTT DoCoMo and South Korea's KTF are said by Telecoms Korea to be in talks for a joint release, though the reason for combining the pair's efforts is unknown. The two countries do however rely on W-CDMA broadband, as opposed to the HSPA the 3G iPhone is expected to use in regions such as Canada and the US. It may thus make sense for KTF and DoCoMo to cooperate on a shared iPhone format. [full story]

May 1 - 3:50pm EDT   Fashion design firm Prada on Thursday said it would launch its LG Prada phone in Japan, signaling one of the few carrier-based releases for the touchscreen device outside of Europe. The phone will be paired up with dominant carrier NTT DoCoMo and will primarily be sold from Prada's own stores rather than cellular or electronics shops. Few details of the local phone are available, though the handset is likely to include some level of 3G support to handle Japan's networks and should keep the 2-megapixel camera of the original. [full story]

April 30 - 12:10pm EDT   Final information about the BlackBerry 9000's features and its initial launch partners has been confirmed, BGR says. The full QWERTY phone will boast its expected 3G access with tri-band HSDPA for both the Americas and elsewhere; it will also be the first BlackBerry to go beyond a basic QVGA (320x240) screen and move up to 480x320. Wi-Fi is onboard; GPS mapping is assisted, however, rather than completely independent. A 2-megapixel camera and a microSD slot will also be part of the design. [full story]

March 27 - 2:40pm EDT   NTT DoCoMo, one of Japan's largest mobile phone operators, said on Thursday that it has demonstrated the first molecular delivery system in its efforts to develop a molecular communication system. The system would provide biochemical conditions of living organisms, such as excitement, emotion, stress or disease. The company's ultimate goal is to integrate a bio chip into a cell phone to give it the ability to scan a user's tear, blood or sweat and send the information to a medical center for analysis via traditional methods. [full story]

March 26 - 12:50pm EDT   Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has managed downlink speeds of up to 250Mbps in field testing of LTE (Long Term Evolution), a company announcement claims. LTE, often dubbed 4G broadband, is expected to eventually replace the current worldwide 3G standards, HSDPA and HSUPA. LTE should allow individual cellphone users to reach download speeds of up to 20Mbps; this at least two and a half times faster than the fastest 3 and 3.5G deployments, still used in a minority of public networks. Most 3G connections are over five times slower. [full story]

March 5 - 10:10am EST   Yesterday's shareholder meeting for Apple may have produced "nothing material," according to analysts from Piper Jaffray, but it did provide small pieces of information about Apple's products and strategy. It was for example unknown if the company's goal to sell 10 million iPhones in 2008 meant a total since the product's inception, or simply within the calendar year; it is now confirmed that Apple wants to add 10 million to the 3.7 million sold in 2007. Piper is currently projecting sales that exceed Apple estimates, at 12.9 million iPhones during 2008. [full story]

February 25 - 2:40pm EST   Planning to disrupt what it believes is a static phone industry, startup carrier EMobile today announced its first service plans for its home country of Japan. Instead of requiring a monthly fee or having customers buy prepaid blocks of time, the new service will operate largely on a metered system. Customers pay roughly 17 cents for every 30 seconds of call time; they can also buy unlimited local calls for slightly more than $9 per month if they are regular users, EMobile adds. In exchange, the carrier asks customers to use 3G Internet access over HSPA up to 7.2Mbps for between $19 and $55 per month depending on the level of access. [full story]

January 24 - 1:30pm EST   Leading Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has confirmed a deal with Google, as initially rumored late last month. The primary purpose of the deal is to improve DoCoMo's i-mode Internet service, which is said to have some 48 million subscribers. Google will make it easier for i-mode users to reach its various websites, in particular Google Maps, which will be preloaded on various handsets as on Apple's iPhone. A Google search bar will be added to the i-mode portal this spring; eventually it will be easier to load other material as well, such as Gmail, YouTube and Picasa. [full story]