WW-84

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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 LITE

Commentary on the Business of Wireless in Japan
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Issue No. 84 (Lite Version)
Tuesday, December 10, 2002
Tokyo

+++ Noteworthy News
--> KDDI 3G Subscribers Top Four Million
--> 3G Firms, China Unicom to Expand Ties
--> Built-in Camera Mobile Phones Increasingly Used for
Business Purposes
--> Japan痴 3G War of Words

+++ Events

>> GETI/GLOCOM Platform Joint Seminar
Progress and Changes in MEMS/Microsystems Technology Sector in 2002

>> 3GMOBILE WORLD FORUM 2003
14-17 January 2003, Tokyo, Japan

+++ Subscriber Statistics, Corrections, Credits, Administrivia

============================ANNOUNCEMENT=============================

In this week's Wireless Watch Japan Video Newsmagazine:

** Video Report from J-Phone/Vodafone's 3G Launch

"SMS is a form of data roaming and we also have packet
roaming" said J-Phone president Darryl E. Green at last
week's 3G launch, adding, "It's not as rich as it could be,
but we're working on many things." Watch this exclusive
report from the Tokyo event, including one-on-one
interviews with Green and CTO John Thompson and highlights
of 3G technology demos. Web video at its best!

"We Rip the Faceplate Off Japan's Wireless Industry"
http://www.wirelesswatchjapan.com/EPS/44.htm
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+++ Noteworthy News
(Long URLs may break across two lines so copy to your browser.)

--> KDDI 3G Subscribers Top Four Million
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=1872223
Source: Reuters, Dec. 9

EXTRACT: KDDI, Japan's No. 2 wireless operator, said on Monday the number of
users for its high-speed 3G mobile phone service had topped four million,
keeping a wide lead over larger rival NTT DoCoMo. The figure indicates the
operator is on track to winning seven million 3G subscribers by the end of the
current business year on March 31 -- a KDDI target reiterated by President
Tadashi Onodera last week. KDDI began its 3G service based on the CDMA2000
standard in April, while DoCoMo, whose 3G operation is based on the competing
WCDMA format, has only won about 150,000 users despite a six-month head start.

COMMENTARY: KDDI grabbed 3,897,700 3G subs in the 7-month period from April 1 to
November 30, that's 556,814 per month assuming linear growth. At this rate, they
will win an additional 2,227,257 subs between now and March 30 - that's only
6,124,957, or about 850,000 short of their 7-million goal, if growth stays as
is. There's some evidence to think they will exceed this though.

In October and November, KDDI added 640,900 and 604,400, respectively - much
higher than over the past few months - so it appears that CDMA2000 1X is
becoming even more popular. But keep in mind that at least some of these new 3G
users are coming from existing TU-KA and cdmaOne users who are upgrading (these
2G networks are also in the KDDI Group). In November, the two systems lost a
combined 399,900 subs - cdmaOne alone lost a whopping 395,000.

If you assume that the "lost" 2G subscribers are KDDI Group customers who simply
upgrade to 3G, then the KDDI Group as a whole only grew by 204,500 in November -
still notably better than DoCoMo overall (174,600) and much higher than J-Phone
(80,200).

----------------------------------

--> 3G Firms, China Unicom to Expand Ties
http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/communications/0,39001141,39100580,00.htm
Source: CNET.com, Dec. 9

EXTRACT: 3G wireless proponents KDDI of Japan, South Korea's SK Telecom and
US-based Qualcomm are expanding their ties with China Unicom, despite a freeze
on launching new high-speed, Internet-ready mobile phone systems in the
mainland. Senior officials from the three firms announced the strategy at
separate media briefings last Thursday on the sidelines of the Telecom Asia
conference and exhibition. They will help prepare the mainland's No. 2 mobile
operator and its subscribers to use 3G services when deployment is allowed. KDDI
president Tadashi Onodera said he looked forward to "increasing cooperation with
China Unicom" in the area of mobile applications development for the mainland
operator's fledgling CDMA operation. "We have mobile applications in Japan that
can be localized for China," Onodera said, noting that Chinese developers would
also be welcome to create applications suited for Japan.

COMMENTARY: KDDI has an international roaming agreement for CDMA phone service
with China Unicom. The two operators have also inked an agreement to develop
mobile technology. KDDI also seems to be looking at increased cooperation with
Korea; press reports have stated that the Japanese company placed an August
US$100 million order with Samsung for CDMA 1X EV-DO equipment - it's rare for a
Japanese carrier to go to Korea for such a large infrastructure order (although
we can't find any announcement on KDDI's site).

This report also states that Qualcomm has announced an agreement with China
Unicom to create a JV that will foster use and development in the mainland of
the American firm's binary runtime environment for wireless (Brew) software
platform.

KDDI placed $100 million 3G orders from Samsung
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/aug_02/news_2398.shtml
http://www.korealink.co.kr/kt_tech/200204/t2002040518232045110.htm

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

--> Built-in Camera Mobile Phones Increasingly Used for
Business Purposes
http://neasia.nikkeibp.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/fw/221124
Source: NEASia Online, Dec. 9

EXTRACT: The combined number of subscriptions of mobile phone handsets with a
built-in camera from J-Phone, KDDI, and NTT DoCoMo topped 10 million as of
October 2002. Corporate users, interested in the recent boom, started to use the
service to perform their daily tasks. Such companies are engaged in business
fields such as medical services, construction and manufacturing. They started to
use mobile phone devices equipped with a sensor with a resolution of 100,000 to
300,000 pixels. Improvements in functions of a camera have helped spread the
popularity.

COMMENTARY: A good article that you may want to read in its entirety. This
story describes examples of companies that use camera keitai in medical
applications and industrial design, and cites usage in car insurance,
pharmaceuticals, and railroad companies. Problems continue to exist, however,
with pixel level, display size, and durability. This story also covers Taisei
Corp. and Takenaka Corp., both of which are using NTT DoCoMo's FOMA video phones
for vertical applications.

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--> Japan痴 3G War of Words
http://www.telecomasia.net/telecomasia/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=40186
Source: TelecomAsia.com, Dec. 6

EXTRACT: A 3G war of words has broken out at ITU TELECOM ASIA 2002 between rival
Japanese mobile operators. Executives from the two top operators, NTT DoCoMo and
KDDI, exchanged sharp words on each other痴 technologies and prospects. KDDI
president Tadashi Onodera yesterday questioned whether the W-CDMA services from
its rivals would attract customers. He said NTT DoCoMo痴 new dual-mode phones
will be too clunky, while 3G newcomer J-Phone was too focused on the corporate
market. For its part, DoCoMo dismissed KDDI as not "offering new kinds of
services."

COMMENTARY: The knives are out! This is the kind of stuff journalists live
for... ;-) Sadly, there's no need for it; they're both wrong. True enough,
DoCoMo's FOMA has under-performed due to coverage, battery life, and clunky
handset. But FOMA's 3G W-CDMA-based services - including i-motion, M-Stage Live,
and video conferencing - are cool and do work. FOMA is not as bad as many say
and will get better. There is an absolute dedication as well as massive
intellectual and monetary capital behind Big D's efforts; they will make it
succeed. Was GSM any screaming success back in, oh, say, 1993?

And CDMA 1X, sure enough, is a great network, but has spent the better part of
its first year snoozing along without much in the way of 3G-optimized services.
It wasn't until movie mail handsets came out in August that there was anything,
and nothing else until last week (when the CD-quality ring tone download service
was announced). DoCoMo has better Java on both 2G and 3G and J-Phone had picture
mail and movie mail waaaay ahead of KDDI.

KDDI's 3G is a success because they have great, cheap, nationwide-covered
handsets and so they haven't had to work that hard on services. Of course, now
they will, and DoCoMo (and J-Phone) had better switch it on if they wish to
compete. KDDI has a massive lead and a near-unbeatable opportunity to deploy
some killer services that really will sew up the market.

=============================EVENTS===================================

>>GETI/GLOCOM Platform Joint Seminar
Progress and Changes in MEMS/Microsystems Technology Sector in 2002

December 20 (F) 18:30-20:00
Speaker: Ms. Miwako Waga, (GETI Managing Director, Japan)
Place: GLOCOM, 6-15-21 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Free. Anyone interested should reserve by contacting 070-5580-9122
(about the seminar), or 03-5411-6714 (about the venue).

More info: http://www.glocom.org/seminar/index.html

>>> 3GMOBILE WORLD FORUM 2003
14-17 January 2003, Tokyo, Japan

As with our hugely successful 2002 event, 3GMobile World Forum 2003
will aim to present a realistic view of the 3G opportunity, and to
provide a platform to transform 3G technology and demand for new high
value services into revenue across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the US.

For further information, visit: http://www.3gmobileforum.com

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+++ Subscriber Statistics, Corrections, Credits, Administrivia

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