i-mode cellphone shipment announced to cease by end of this year

NTT Docomo announced today November 2, 2016 that they will end the sales of i-mode cellphones between this month November and December. No new i-mode supported featurephone is announced so that P-01H, which was released November in 2015, would be the last i-mode cellphone for regular users. The announcement tells that their i-mode capable Rakuraku-phone(easy… Continue reading i-mode cellphone shipment announced to cease by end of this year

Microsoft Japan Finally Upgrades Staffs’ 4 Years-old Windows Phone

Microsoft Japan announced today that its employees are to get Lumia 830 instead of their current Windows Phone IS12T, Windows Phone device which are not sold in Japan. The announcement also notes that the company got Lumia 830’s Giteki-certification only for this purpose, to legalize its employees’ usage of the phone. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFG57CW/ IS12T, made by… Continue reading Microsoft Japan Finally Upgrades Staffs’ 4 Years-old Windows Phone

Up To 100 IMs Simuiltaneously! CyberAgent Releases Teen Girl MS “DECOLINK”

CyberAgent, Inc. [J] has released the smartphone free messenger service DECOLINK [J], geared towards teen girls, for their Smartphone Ameba [J]. “DECOLINK” is a free smartphone messenger service  which lets you exchange messages with up to 100 people simultaneously.  It offers moving message icons, pictographic mini-emoticons that can be inserted into the message, a plethora… Continue reading Up To 100 IMs Simuiltaneously! CyberAgent Releases Teen Girl MS “DECOLINK”

Docomo’s LTE Passes 10 Million Subscribers

NTT Docomo announced [J] today February 19, 2013 that their LTE service Xi got 10 million users yesterday, February 18, 2013. Here is a chart from their release. Docomo’s Xi began December 24, 2010. [Update] other English news Japan’s DoCoMo hits 10 million LTE subscribers, doubling its numbers in 6 months – The Next Web… Continue reading Docomo’s LTE Passes 10 Million Subscribers

SoftBank Starts Using The 900MHz “Platinum Band”

There can be no doubt that SoftBank is the mobile carrier with the weakest network among Japan’s big three telcos, following that of NTT Docomo and KDDI. But now there is hope that things will finally change for the better. Back in March this year, the Japanese government decided to allocate the 900-megahertz band (also… Continue reading SoftBank Starts Using The 900MHz “Platinum Band”

“PayPal Here”: SoftBank And PayPal Join Forces In Japan For Smartphone Payment Solution

PayPal President David Marcus, eBay CEO John Donahoe (PayPal is an eBay brand), and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced “PayPal Here” in Tokyo today, a payment solution for smartphones. This is huge news for PayPal’s Japan unit, which has been operating in this country for years but hasn’t achieved the success it has seen in… Continue reading “PayPal Here”: SoftBank And PayPal Join Forces In Japan For Smartphone Payment Solution

Movatwitter Has A New Owner: jig.jp Buys Twitter Client Operator Mindscope

Tokyo-based mobile tech company jig.jp today announced it acquired Mindscope, the startup behind popular Twitter client movatwitter. movatwitter is Japanese-only, web-based and as such usable across various platforms, including smartphones, feature phones, the PC or handheld consoles like the Sony Vita or the Nintendo 3DS. Around 2009, Twitter’s official Japanese top page featured the app… Continue reading Movatwitter Has A New Owner: jig.jp Buys Twitter Client Operator Mindscope

Three Of Japan’s Top Telcos Standardize Display Of Email Emoticons

Three of Japan’s four biggest mobile carriers, namely NTT Docomo, KDDI au, and eAccess, are about to make it easier for their combined subscriber base of roughly 90 million people to exchange emails with other. The plan is to standardize the display of emoticons, or emoji in Japanese, across handsets offered by the three networks. As… Continue reading Three Of Japan’s Top Telcos Standardize Display Of Email Emoticons

NHN Japan’s LINE App Hits 20 Million Users – After Just 8 Months

20 million – that’s the amazing number of users that LINE, a communication app made by NHN Japan, just hit. The free voice call/messenger app for iOS and Android just took eight months to reach this milestone (it was released in June last year). LINE makes it possible for users to call or text each… Continue reading NHN Japan’s LINE App Hits 20 Million Users – After Just 8 Months