WW-72

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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. 72 (Lite Version)
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Tokyo

+++ Noteworthy News
--> KDDI Aims 25% of Japan New Cell phone users
--> Japanese Will Pay for Wireless LAN
--> GPS, Infrared Communications Added to Web Sites for Mobile Phones
--> NTT DoCoMo to Introduce New Easy-to-Use mova F67liS Handset

+++ Subscriber Statistics, Corrections, Credits, Administrivia

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

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

--> KDDI Aims 25% of Japan New Cell phone users
http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2002/09/17/rtr722705.html
Source: Reuters on Forbes.com, September 17

EXTRACT: Japan's second-largest wireless operator, KDDI Corp, said on Tuesday it
was aiming to sign up a quarter of the nation's new cell phone users in the
second half of the business year to gain on dominant NTT DoCoMo Inc. "We aim to
sign up 25 percent of new subscribers each month. Our total market share now
stands at a little more than 17 percent. So we'd liked to achieve that goal
mainly by chipping away at DoCoMo's share," Toshio Maki, a general manager of
KDDI's "au" wireless services division, told a seminar. Maki said the planned
launch of new camera-equipped phones in late September and a cut in data
transmission rates in October would help KDDI lure new subscribers from DoCoMo,
which holds a 60 percent market share.

COMMENTARY: Not the ravings of a madman at all! KDDI's 3G CDMA 1X system is
leading DoCoMo's by a considerable margin in signing up new subscribers. NTT
DoCoMo had some 133,500 3G FOMA users in August; KDDI had 2.14 million on its 3G
system. KDDI's handsets are cheaper, work nationwide since they are
backwards-compatible with the existing 64-Kbps 2G cdmaOne system, and data rates
are cheaper (depending on the precise mix of discount plan). All in all, it
looks like the "American" CDMA system is giving Big D a run for its money.

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--> Japanese Will Pay for Wireless LAN
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Sept2002/4077.htm
Source: 3G.co.uk, September 16

EXTRACT: According to a study of over 10,000 people owning portable notebook
computer[s] and PDAs, Japanese consumers are becoming aware of wireless LAN
services but are looking for cost-effective ways to access them. The survey
found 63% of all respondents familiar with the term "Wireless LAN," with 60%
willing to pay for a high-speed wireless LAN package if priced below 2,000 yen
per month. Even greater awareness and interest was found among business users,
96% of whom were familiar with WLAN.

COMMENTARY: These results are not surprising given the WLAN marketing and ads
service providers have been plastering all over the place. We dropped by
Yodobashi Camera in Machida yesterday and noticed that WLAN access points
intended for home networking use have come down in price considerably from a
year ago. Also, several access base stations (from Corega and others) come
bundled with one or more PC Card-format WLAN cards, and all are pushed as
"broadband-ready." Home DSL users hit 3,915,740 at the end of August, and many
of them are setting up WLANs in the "dainingu-kitchen." This makes for a
fertile, public WLAN-access-ready market, and it will be interesting to see how
the provider wars play out in the next few quarters.

Note: This report is actually an extract from a study available on the
http://www.mobilemediajapan.com site.

================================EVENT================================

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For more information or to register in advance, visit:
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--> GPS, Infrared Communications Added to Web Sites for Mobile Phones
http://www.nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/fw/206890
Source: Nikkei AsiaBizTech, September 17

EXTRACT: Since the second half of 2001, content developers of cellular phone
services have embarked on new types of Web sites for cell phones -- those that
fully use GPS location information, infrared communications and voice. The most
notable examples are Web sites taking advantage of new cell phone capabilities
such as GPS and infrared radiation. In April 2002, for example, a new service to
manage the behavior of employees on the road was introduced. The service was
then followed by new mobile phone models with an infrared data communication
capability to be used for membership certification by a rental video shop or as
a remote controller by a karaoke shop. A growing number of voice-responding Web
sites from which users can obtain information using voices also have been
launched. Voice-responding Web sites using Voice XML, which have been offering
pilot services since last year, start to offer commercial services in 2002. Now
there also are tools to help construct such Web sites.

COMMENTARY: The most significant part of this report (and worth reading in the
original) refers to infra-red (IR) terminal-to-terminal (peer-to-peer, P2P)
communications. This is an excellent, fast, reliable, and robust technology that
has not been fully exploited for cell phones to date (Palms make good use of
IR-based "beaming" to swap data). NTT DoCoMo has also noted this fact, and the
new (May 2002) 504i-series handsets feature an IR interface that can be
controlled by a Java i-Appli; rental video shop operator Geo Co., Ltd. and Index
Corp. introduced a membership certification system using cell phones in June
whereby a Java appli certifies membership via IR communication with compatible
cash register terminal. DoCoMo would like to expand use of P2P IR functionality
to a wide range of ecom and mcom applications. Keep an eye on this space.

=============================EVENT====================================
Recognizing the advanced state of 3G developments in Korea, "Korea
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In addition, this premier event will also provide you with an unbiased
perspective of the issues around 4G business models, services and
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Bringing together key operators, industry top players and academics
from around the world, 3G Wireless & Beyond 2002 is the DEFINITIVE
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Contact Denise Ho @+65 6835 5105 or email: denise.ho@ibcasia.com.sg or
visit http://www.ibc-asia.com/3gkorea.htm for more information.

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--> NTT DoCoMo to Introduce New Easy-to-Use mova F67liS Handset
http://www.nttdocomo.com
Source: Company PR, September 2

EXTRACT: NTT DoCoMo announced today that the company will launch its "F671iS"
handset on September 6, 2002. The F671iS, an enhanced version of DoCoMo's
popular F67li introduced in September 2001, offers a variety of new, convenient
features, such as larger text and a function that reads aloud various content.

COMMENTARY: Those of you who hit their 40th birthday anytime recently (... and
we know who we are ;-)) will be interested in this baby. The 2.1-inch,
65,536-color TFT LCD screen offers text display that is some 65 percent larger
than on previous models, making i-mode content, email messages, stored numbers,
and email addresses easier (**not** "easy") to read. In addition, instructions
on how to perform operations, such as check call and mail logs, listen to
messages and create mail are supported with graphics (arrows, etc.).
Interestingly, this handset provides a read back function involving, apparently,
the voice readout of mail, call and message logs, time and day date, stored
numbers, operating menus, etc. This is the first time we've seen this
functionality on the market here.

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+++ Subscriber Statistics, Corrections, Credits, Administrivia

This week's issue is two days late due to the Japanese holiday on
Monday. We apologise for any inconvenience.

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WWJ video newsmagazine researched, edited and hosted and email
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WWJ video newsmagazine produced and edited by:
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in cooperation with Video-Link.com, helloNetworkAsia
(http://www.hellonetwork.co.jp) and Stellent (http://www.stellent.com)

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