WW-145 -- Wireless Hotspots? Tokyo's First Wireless Blanket Services Announced

=======================================================
J@pan Inc presents the Wireless Watch Newsletter:

W I R E L E S S W A T C H

Commentary on Japan's Wireless World
=======================================================

Wireless Watch Newsletter
Issue No. 145
Friday August 5, 2005
TOKYO

++ Viewpoint: Wireless Hotspots? Tokyo's First Wireless Blanket Services Announced
1. Livedoor's Trial Blanket Coverage
2. Customers Will Benefit, But Will Providers Profit in the Long Term?

========================================================
Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo

September seminar will be announced soon.
Location: City Club of Tokyo - Maple Room
(Canadian Embassy Complex)
Language: English Website: http://www.ea-tokyo.com
Email: info@ea-tokyo.com
========================================================

++ Viewpoint: Wireless Hotspots? Tokyo's First Wireless Blanket Services Announced
1. Livedoor's Trial Blanket Coverage

Densely populated Greater Tokyo is evolving as an interesting
battleground for wireless hotspot providers. NTT and Yahoo
are the leading companies in wired broadband. NTT offers
the Musen LAN service 24- hour broadband access for 3 dollars.
The service is available at most Tokyo rail stations. Other
NTT services are available at hotels and cafes for 7 dollars
per month. Yahoo BB mobile offers its wireless LAN service
in railway stations and neighboring cafes and fast food restaurants.

Though these services are reasonably priced, the number of
hot spots is still limited. A new Livedoor initiative could
change this. Livedoor's president and CEO, Takafumi Horie,
well-known for his attempted hostile takeover of Fuji TV,
announced a wireless hotspot service with full coverage within
JR's Yamanote Line, the elevated railway that circles central
Tokyo. Later this summer trial services will start in Shinjuku
and Minato wards. ‘Wireless Hot Blanket’ might be a better
description for this type of service. Livedoor is not only targeting
notebook and PDA users, but also access services through
IP phones and IP-enabled cameras. Livedoor has tied up with
fixed network provider Powered Com to get access to its
IP-backbone in Tokyo.
========================================================
JIC Sponsored Interviews

You read Terrie's Take and JIN, and so do 54,000 other
executives inside and outside Japan. Let them know what your
company does, with our new Sponsored Interviews service.
We create a lead-in for the interview, and run it within the
newsletters, with links back to the page holding the full
interview. For a small additional charge, we will also run it
in the Japan Inc magazine, the www.japan.com website, and the
www.japaninc.com web site for archiving. Cumulatively, your
message will be seen by at least 120,000 English-language readers.

E-mail: sales@japaninc.com for more information.

========================================================
Have you got a web-related problem you wish would just go away?

Have you got a project that just does not belong in your data
center? A web application that is unusable? A project that has
been back-burnered because of bottlenecks in the internal
infrastructure?

We make problems go away!

Ashley Associates (http://www.ashleyassociates.co.jp) is one
of Japan's largest web consultancies and production companies
with a full range of services from usability consulting to
web-application outsourcing.

Please contact info@ashleyassociates.co.jp or Karl Hahne on
(03) 5469-2849 for more information.
========================================================

2. Customers Will Benefit, But Will Providers Profit in the Long Term?

Although blanket coverage seems appealing, we have a couple of
questions. Are there handover coverage areas while we are on the
move? And will we be able to use the service while seated on the
couch in our home in Ueno? How high a bandwidth will we get in
areas with many concurrent users?

A company that might be affected by the rise of hotspots is
Willcom. Its unlimited data services for a fixed amount offer
much lower bandwidths than wireless hotspots. Current service
fees for hot spots are cheaper than Willcom's 'all you can eat'
tariffs. But coverage is still superior to wireless LAN services.

As is the case with residential broadband services, the intense
competition between large providers will benefit customers.
Differentiation will be accomplished through lower service charges
and better coverage. We expect other companies to follow Livedoor
if its trial services in Shinjuku and Minato wards are successful.
Emerging technologies like WiMax might also be introduced soon.
With all these different providers and wireless access technologies,
one might wonder if there exists a long-term profitable business case
for providers.

========================================================
ANZCCJ

For Australian and New Zealand professionals in Japan. Give
yourself an advantage. Become a member of the Australian &
New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ANZCCJ). The ANZCCJ
provides a unique opportunity to stay up to date with matters
of interest to you in Japan as well as providing regular
opportunities to meet with and hear from senior politicians
and business people on a range of interesting topics.
Visit www.anzccj.jp for more information or contact the
Secretariat Manager - Ph 03 5157 5615, email: manager@anzccj.jp

========================================================
BiOS IT Support Services

Introduce some discipline and control to your IT infrastructure
by getting a quotation from BiOS for J-E bilingual support and
engineering. With 50+ engineers, we have the size and experience
to look after most sites and projects. Whether you have one
person or one hundred, we welcome all customers.

For more info: technology@biosjp.com.
http://www.biosjp.com
========================================================

SUBSCRIBERS: 22,523 as of August 5, 2005

STAFF
Written by Arjen van Blokland; Edited by Burritt Sabin
(editors@japaninc.com)

(C) Copyright 2005 Japan Inc Communications KK. All Rights Reserved.