Nikkei Business reported as a “breaking news” today [J] that Japan’s largest telco NTT Docomo is planning to start the fixed rate Android app subscription service such like #2 KDDI’s au Smart Pass earliest in June.

KDDI’s Smart Pass, which charges 390 yen (US$4.00) every month for variety of Android apps set, recently passed 5 million subscribers. 1 out of 6 KDDI users using the Internet connection on their cellphone are subscribing the service.

Tags: Android, Japan by Akky Akimoto
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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

Despite slower speeds, NTT Docomo quick to surpass 10 million LTE subscribers

Tags: Cellular Phone, Japan by Akky Akimoto
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Docomo announced [J] on February 18.

The service D-creators will be a combination of a newly made handmade craft marketplace and user-generated novels/comics/photos provided by E-Everystar, joint cellphone web service by Docomo and DeNA.

The teaser site is already on.

Tags: Japan, Service by Akky Akimoto
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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 dubbed “platinum band”) to SoftBank. And yesterday, the company finally started using the band, with plans to set up a total of 42,000 compatible base stations all over Japan by 2019.

Users can check the areas that are serviced by visiting this website (it looks like large parts of Greater Tokyo will get covered by September this year).

SoftBank, which currently has 30 million subscribers, expects cost for the network upgrade to amount to around US$10.5 billion.

Last month, the Japanese government allocated another “platinum band” to Docomo, KDDI, and eAccess: SoftBank’s rivals plan to use the 700-megahertz band for their LTE services from 2015.

Tags: Android, Cellular Phone, iOS, News by Serkan Toto
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Voltage [J] has released “My Forged Wedding,” an English version of “Chikai No Kisu Wa Totsuzen Ni♪” (Suddenly Kiss of Vow) as the second part of the North American romance simulation game “Romance Sims” series, for iPhone and Android.

“My Forged Wedding” is an English Version of “Chikai No Kisu Wa Totsuzen Ni,” the number one ranking most popular romance game among the 175 sites within the “Romance Game” category currently at NTT Docomo’s i-Menu.  It’s the second part continuing from  Part 1 which was released overseas from July of 2011, “Pirates in Love”, [J] for the North American market.  The precursor “Pirates in Love” placed 21st in the App store’s entertainment category, and within the Asian sphere it reached number 1 in the Singapore App store entertainment category.  This time, the story and characters are entirely true to the original, so the complete story can be enjoyed in English.  Gameplay is also the same as the Japanese version.  The prologue in which all characters appear can be played for free, and after that it becomes a single payment for each character download that you select.

© Voltage

Translation authorized by VSMedia

Tags: News, Social game, VSMedia by Chiho Komoriya
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