WW-63

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J@pan Inc presents the Wireless Watch Japan Newsmagazine:

W I R E L E S S W A T C H J A P A N

Commentary on the Business of Wireless in Japan
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Issue No. 63 (Preview)
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
Tokyo

+++ Special Note:
Welcome to the syndicated version of the WirelessWatchJapan.com
email newsmagazine, republished by J@pan Inc magazine.

+++ Noteworthy News
--> NTT DoCoMo, KPN Target 1m i-mode Subs in Europe by end-2003
--> DoCoMo Dominance Faces Challenges in Japan
--> Fujifilm to Enter Camera Market for Mobile Phones

+++ Events (Advertisements)
LOOKING BEYOND: ASIA PACIFIC TOUR 2002

+++ Subscriber Statistics, Corrections, Credits, Administrivia

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=====================================================================

+++ Special Note

Welcome to the syndicated version of the WirelessWatchJapan.com email
newsmagazine, republished by J@pan Inc magazine.

WirelessWatchJapan.com is a new media entity to be launched on
Wednesday, July 17 at http://www.wirelesswatchjapan.com, and will take
up where the old Wireless Watch newsletter left off. Those of you who
have received Wireless Watch in the past will be familiar with the
newsmagazine's format, content and scope, as well as with the weekly
streaming video version of Wireless Watch.

With the growing readership/viewership, it made sense to repackage and
relaunch Wireless Watch as WirelessWatchJapan.com, a separate media
site where we can more easily provide our weekly email newsmagazine,
the videos, as well as additional content and services focusing on the
business of wireless in Japan.

If you've subscribed to this newsletter via http://www.japaninc.com,
you'll continue to receive the shorter, syndicated version. To receive
the full version, including Daniel Scuka's insightful and fact-filled
Viewpoint essay as well as additional news items and more, to
access the video newsmagazine and to sign up for our HTML, text and
video newsletters, go to http://www.wirelesswatchjapan.com/subs.htm.

But wait until Wednesday 17th, will you? We're still messing with the
final HTML code and mailing list software... ;-) As of the 17th, the
site will be live and jumping, so sit tight, relax and remember to
access WirelessWatchJapan.com.

Comments and queries can be sent to Daniel Scuka,
daniel@wirelesswatchjapan.com

-- Daniel Scuka

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+++ Noteworthy News
(Long URLs may break across two lines so copy to your browser.)

--> NTT DoCoMo, KPN Target 1m i-mode Subs in Europe by end-2003

http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_627243.html?
menu=business.latestheadlines
Source: Nikkei Shimbun reported on Ananova, July 12

EXTRACT: NTT DoCoMo aims to increase the number of subscribers to
i-mode to 1 million in Europe by the end of next year. DoCoMo will
operate through associate KPN Mobile NV of the Netherlands and KPN's
subsidiaries, releasing handset models with built-in digital cameras.
It started the i-mode service in the Netherlands in April this year
and its German subsidiary, E-Plus, began offering the service in
March. Base, its Belgian unit, plans to offer the service this autumn.
Only one i-mode-compatible model is now available in the Netherlands
and Germany. A model with built-in game-enabling software will be
launched at the end of the year, and a model with a built-in camera
will be rolled out in early January.

COMMENTARY: There were some 60,000 i-mode users in Germany and Holland
as of end-June and the service appears to be unfolding nicely, if a
little slow. The most important metric is the 200-plus content,
application and service providers, indicating that a solid base of
third parties believes they can make money on the i-mode brand.
Further, the proven success of camera-equipped phones and the fact
that the current NEC i-mode handsets are pretty attractive (great
color screens, good tones) should attract even more subscribers.

E-Plus, the German KPN partner, for one, is not forgetting about the
marketing, either. Until the end of July, you can open a new i-mode
account for 50 euros (two-year contract), and data costs are modest.
One E-Plus brochure states that it costs about 0.07 euros to access a
sports news story with a picture, 0.14 euros to download an image,
0.03 euros to receive a mail and 0.22 euros to send. And a final
challenge will be persuading the market to go for more lively games.
One Europe-based Java developer said today, "Europeans are not
accustomed to mobile gaming" -- so carriers are starting with simple
stuff, like Tic Tac Toe. We think folks will learn real fast once Java
is available on i-mode (next year?).

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--> ANALYSIS -- DoCoMo Dominance Faces Challenges in Japan

http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?cat=USMARKET&src=201&feed=
reuｧion=news&news_id=reu-t85434&date=20020709&alias=
/alias/money/cm/nw
Source: Reuters on i-won.com, July 9

EXTRACT: NTT DoCoMo won back the top spot for new Japanese cellphone
subscriptions in June, but a slide in its market share is spelling the
end of its position as unassailable mobile leader in Japan, analysts
say. With other firms promoting 3G services and camera-phones,
DoCoMo's market share fell for the fifth straight month in June to
58.6 percent, a far cry from the days when users swamped its i-mode
Internet-capable phones. After watching competitors, and J-Phone in
particular, gain on its dominant position with camera-mounted phones,
DoCoMo had to scramble last month to offer its own version. "DoCoMo's
stranglehold over the Japanese market is starting to loosen...This
year is a great opportunity for KDDI and J-Phone to increase their
market share," Bruce Kirk, senior analyst at Commerzbank Securities,
said. Tokyo Mitsubishi Securities' Yokoyama said, "DoCoMo offers its
3G as a totally different service. But 'au' treats its 3G service as
just an improved version of the existing one."

COMMENTARY: Times, they are are a changin', and it looks like Big D
is no longer the absolute 900lb gorilla it once was. But it's still
up above 800lbs, we think, and it's way too early to discount what
DoCoMo does with 3G or any other new technology. In other reports, the
carrier is said to be actively courting 3G partners in Singapore and
South Korea, and i-mode will launch in Taiwan later this fall.

With partners already established in Germany, Holland, Belgium,
France and the US (and others in negotiations), DoCoMo may yet find
itself in a position to influence the growth of W-CDMA elsewhere in
the world. At home, while J-Phone, KDDI and others may gloat and grab
market share this year, by 2003 the FOMA system will be up and running
substantially nationwide, and the handsets and network will have had
the bugs worked out. Consider what might happen if or when an
extremely deep-pocketed DoCoMo pours on the marketing cash, leading a
willing population, we think, to migrate to 3G (FOMA's videoconference
function may be particularly popular).

And as for the recently slower handsets sales, some analysts have
pointed out that DoCoMo may be better off since that means smaller
sales commissions for handset retailers and greater profit margins in
a short term.

===========================ADVERTISEMENT==============================

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-->NTT DoCoMo to Release New FOMA PDA with Video Phone Function

http://www.nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com/wcs/frm/leaf?CID=
onair/asabt/cover/195693
Source: Nikkei AsiaBizTech, July 11

EXTRACT: NTT DoCoMo is to release the SH2101V, a PDA device with a
video phone designed for FOMA. The device is to be released on July
16. It will be the first PDA device for FOMA. With a compact wireless
handset, SH2101V users can have phone conversations even when the PDA
is folded. The main unit and the handset are connected via Bluetooth
[and] the handset is equipped with a small LCD display, which enables
checking email messages or playing music from the display. The SH2101V
is the first FOMA device to support the video distribution service,
M-stage visual, which has been available only on PHS until now.

COMMENTARY: This is the first example of a PDA terminal for 3G and is
interesting because it provides access to existing (2G) content -- the
video clips provided until now only via M-Stage Visual on PHS. Why do
we need a 3G terminal to access 2G content? Oh well... There's also a
new dual-mode (for data, not voice) terminal that works on FOMA and
PHS -- the Lookwalk P751v PHS handset due for release July 17 (the
same day that www.wirelesswatchjapan.com goes live! ;-)).

This lends support to rumors we've heard that DoCoMo is having a tough
time engineering a dual-mode PDC/W-CDMA terminal due to power and
other tech requirements. Presumably, this PDA's battery is larger and
more robust than what a simple (and much smaller) cellphone could
accommodate. Continuous standby time is 60 hours for the main unit,
and 80 hours for the handset.

The SH2101V also allows access to i-mode, i-Appli (Java), and the FOMA
video clip download service (i-motion); it also has a camera (no
surprise here -- Big D now has 4 2G devices that are equipped with a
camera). The SH2101V can videoconference with P2101V and D2101V
handsets as well as with the Lookwalk.

DoCoMo is clearly keen to establish any sort of dual-mode technology
that it possibly can in order to boost FOMA usage. You can also get
a steep discount if you have a 2G PDC handset and you agree to buy a
3G FOMA handset, keeping the PDC model for voice calling and using the
FOMA model for data. We guess this provides a sort of 'virtual'
dual-mode.

In other news, DoCoMo said on Friday that it would release two new
camera-equipped handsets. The D251i is manufactured by
Mitsubishi and is expected to offer the highest level of image
quality with a built-in 0.17-megapixel camera and a 260,000-color LCD
panel (it can store up to 1,670 digital images on a Sony Memory
Stick). The F251i by Fujitsu has a slide show function allowing it to
consecutively display stored images every four seconds. The models
will retail for around 27,000 yen and 23,000 yen, respectively.

--> Fujifilm to Enter Camera Market for Mobile Phones

http://www.nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/moren/195
912
Source: Nikkei AsiaBizTech, July 12

EXTRACT: Fuji Photo Film (Fujifilm) said it is beginning to sell the
Super CCD Honeycomb imaging device to be mounted onto a mobile phone
with a tiny camera on the outer case. The company said that the
170,000-pixel Super CCD Honeycomb can produce 310,000 effective-pixel
recorded images, and that a new mobile phone adopting the CCD will
soon be put onto the market. Industry watchers are predicting the
market for mobile phones with cameras will sharply rise to 10 million
units in 2002, compared with the estimate for 6 million units in sales
of digital cameras. Fujifilm has decided to enter the market for
mobile phone terminals along with this trend.

COMMENTARY: One more example of how traditional chemical film
processing companies are being forced to remake themselves as digital
image production and processing providers. In the US, Kodak now offers
film processing to CD ROM; in Japan, it's a case of 'get a camera onto
the keitai.'

================================EVENT=================================
LOOKING BEYOND: ASIA PACIFIC TOUR 2002 -- Tokyo July 19 13:00-17:30
(Networking cocktail from 17:30)

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======================================================================
+++ Subscriber Statistics, Corrections, Credits, Administrivia

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STAFF

WWJ video newsmagazine researched, edited and hosted and email
newsletter researched and written by:
Daniel Scuka (daniel@wirelesswatchjapan.com)
Email newsletter edited by:
J@pan Inc Editors (editors@japaninc.com)

WWJ video newsmagazine produced and edited by:
Lawrence Cosh-Ishii (video@wirelesswatchjapan.com)
in cooperation with Video-Link.com, helloNetworkAsia
(www.hellonetwork.co.jp) and IntaDev Inc. (www.intadev.com)

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