Japan’s NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) is buddying up with another giant telco, China Mobile (NYSE:CHL; HKG:0941), to bring its mobile gaming portal to an overseas market for the first time ever. Starting from tomorrow, Docomo’s ‘D Game’ portal, which launched in Tokyo last fall, will launch within China Mobile’s own app store.

Dubbed the China Mobile Market, it’s one of China’s largest third-party app stores (see it here), focusing on Android and feature phone apps and games. The arrival of the D Game portal for China Mobile’s 700 million subscribers will be good news for Japanese developers who publish via Docomo’s platform. An initial 20 titles will launch tomorrow on D Game China [1], from studios like Capcom, Konami, and Square Enix. Its catalog will expand over time.

China Mobile’s app store does support paid apps – via carrier billing, of course – but it’s not clear if the D Game titles will be paid ones. Docomo’s announcement today points out its involvement with Dentsu and NTT Advertising in a Chinese joint-venture called D2C, so it’s likely that the games will monetize via in-game ads.

D Game is part of Docomo’s recent push into content and mobile commerce, along with companion services dubbed dmenu and dmarket [2]. The latter one got a big boost recently with Docomo’s acquisition of a women’s fashion e-commerce site.

China Mobile has just [over 100 million 3G subscribers](Dentsu and NTT Advertising in Japan. Dis), so it has a fairly large smartphone user-base, who are the ones most likely to be keen to snap up Android games.

Today, Japanese telco NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) has confirmed that its proposed stake in fashion-oriented e-store MagaSeek (TYO:3060) has been accepted. The Docomo acquisition amounts to a stake of 71.28 percent in MagaSeek in a boost to the telco’s burgeoning e-commerce efforts.

The acquisition deal is worth 2.04 billion yen (US$21.2 million), and is a lot more than the initial 42 percent slice that was initially proposed to MagaSeek and parent company Itochu Corporation – who will retain 25 percent of the e-commerce site under this new agreement.

MagaSeek’s shoppers are mainly female customers in their 20s and 30s, and Docomo will be hoping that a number of its 60 million subscribers (of whom seven million are now on 4G) will try out the e-store once it’s fully integrated into Docomo’s ‘dshopping’ mobile shopping service later this month.

At present, dshopping mainly sells foodstuffs after Docomo took a controlling stake in online supermarket Radishbo-ya last year. By 2015, Docomo aims for e-commerce to contribute seven percent of its revenues, and surely that will necessitate a couple more acquisitions as its dshopping service expands into more product areas.

Japanese telco NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) has been diversifying a lot recently, notably launching online shopping through its ‘dmarket’ content portal back in December. Today Docomo has put forward an offer to acquire the fashion-oriented e-commerce site MagaSeek (TYO:3060) with a view to using the store as a way of expanding its dshopping service.

In the friendly takeover offer, Docomo is seeking to acquire “a minimum 8,829 shares, or approximately 41.67 percent of MagaSeek’s total shares,” which requires approval from MagaSeek.com’s parent company Itochu Corporation. In theory, that stake would cost Docomo over US$13 million at the tender offer of 135,000 yen per share, which is above the store’s current stock trading price of 100,000 yen. Itochu would retain at least a quarter of MagaSeek to remain a major shareholder.

For Docomo’s fledgling e-commerce efforts, the acquisition would be a big boost to its dshopping store, which currently only sells foodstuffs. That came about thanks to taking a controlling stake in Radishbo-ya last year, Japan’s top home-delivery service for organic vegetables and preservative-free foods. Now dmarket sells 100,000 different food items. By 2015, Docomo aims for e-commerce to contribute seven percent of its revenues.

Docomo has over 60 million mobile subscribers, so MagaSeek and its parent company would also benefit from this new mobile commerce channel.

MagaSeek was founded in 2003 and brought in a net profit of $1.52 million in Q2 2012. Docomo’s ‘deal or no deal’ offer is on the table until March 14th, 2013.

NotTV, at CEATEC Japan

This past July we wrote about Mmbi Inc’s NotTV mobile television service, which at that point had surpassed 100,000 subscribers after its April launch. There’s now word from Mmbi this week that the service has now broken the 400,000 subscriber milestone, as of December 22. NotTV needed just 266 days to reach this landmark.

It’s important to understand that each of those subscribers is a paying customer, as the mobile channel costs 420 yen (almost $5) each month. If we do some quick math we can see that means nearly a cool $2 million monthly.

Currently the service is available in 14 Japanese prefectures, but it is expected that service will expand to all prefectures in 2013. Mmbi’s previously stated goal for its first year was one million subscribers, and with a little luck it could very well reach that mark if growth keeps up in the new year.

NotTV will launch a new promotional effort from tomorrow until January 6, as part of a New Year’s campaign. If that goes well, it could certainly help bring in some new subscribers.

NotTV is supported by Docomo, as most of its winter lineup of handsets are compatible with the service. So Mmbi could see another surge in sign-ups when the carrier’s spring lineup hits shelves next year too.

[NotTV via S-Max]

New mobile subscriber figures from Japan’s Telecom Carriers Association show that the country’s leading carrier, NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM), dropped 40,800 customers in November, sliding from 60.79 million in October to 60.75 million. At first glance, it would seem that rival carriers Softbank and Au performed comparatively well in November, and indeed over the last few months – thanks in large part to the fact that both carry Apple’s iPhone 5, which launched back in September – they have done ok.

In the chart below, you can see the amount of subscribers that each carrier has added per month over the past year. But it’s important to keep in mind that most of Docomo’s new subscribers over the past year have been on its shiny new LTE service, which is reported separately by the TCA. And if you factor those into the equation, then Docomo has been doing great (even without the iPhone), adding 678,000 subscribers for the month of November [1]. The chart shows Docomo’s aggregate subscriber additions in red (without LTE shown in pink), alongside the aggregate numbers reported for Softbank and Au by the TCA.

according to TCA figures

Docomo’s LTE service surpassed the seven million subscriber mark in November (7,394,200 to be exact), which gives it pretty strong growth since its Xi service originally became available back in late 2010.

Softbank and KDDI just recently began selling the cellular model of the iPad Mini on November 30, so it’ll be interesting to see how that affects subscriptions for December.

Japan’s leading telephone carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) today announced that it will be establishing a subsidiary in Singapore that will provide services to Japanese customers and businesses in the country and act as a sales agent for mobile operator StarHub. Docomo had a representative office in Singapore since 2005, and this subsidiary will assume the business of that office.

The new services will begin on January 1, 2013, and will include Japanese-language support, as well as support for the purchase of mobile phones, cable TV, and broadband internet. There will also be services like consultation on billing plans and international roaming.

Docomo tells us that the establishment of this subsidiary is not directly connected to the influx of Japanese businesses setting up shop in Singapore these days. But certainly many of the Japanese citizens and companies based in the garden city will be happy to take advantage of the services that Docomo Singapore plans to offer.

On a related note, we saw Docomo establish another pan-Asian initiative a few months back as well, when the company partnered with KT Corporation to allow smartphones from Japan to use pre-payment services in South Korea.

Japan’s NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) has announced today that it will soon be commercially launching what it calls the world’s first dual mode small-cell base station (pictured right) to simultaneously support and improve 3G and LTE coverage for indoor locations.

These compact base stations (aka femtocells) are scheduled to launch in December, the idea being that if businesses deploy them in buildings (like offices or shops) that they can supplement Docomo’s existing network and ensure that coverage and network performance meets customers’ expectations. The company has marketed 3G femtocells for a few years already.

The device (which measures just 18.5 x 17.5 x 4.5cm) will cover an area of ‘tens of meters’ depending on the conditions. Users just need to connect it to a fixed broadband line, and from there they’ll be able to enjoy a higher-quality of coverage.

Docomo is Japan’s leading mobile carrier with over 60 million subscribers, of which about 6.7 million are LTE subscribers (see chart below).

Download image version of this chart

That fund will invest in local startups that could potentially graduate to become mobile offerings for Docomo. It lists a number of strategic technology areas that it hopes to help develop:

• Media/Content
• Finance/Payment
• Commerce
• Medical/Healthcare
• Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
• Aggregation/Platforms
• Environment/Ecology
• Security/Safety

The company further adds that it will also establish its Incubation Village program by next March 31st, which will offer office space, expert mentoring, as well as financial and legal advice.

Docomo already has a subsidiary in the U.S. which is geared towards investment in mobile communications. Docomo Capital boasts a portfolio that includes names such as Fab, Cooliris, and Swype.

Docomo’s domestic mobile competitor KDDI also launched its Mugen Labo incubation program last year, with the aim of developing innovative internet services.

NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) announced today that later this year it will begin operating its own gaming platform, starting in late November. The service will be called dgame, in keeping with its mobile content branding (see dmenu, dmarket).

According to Docomo’s announcement, it will be working with big name game providers like Konami, Namco Bandai, and Sega on delivering mobile games to its customers, starting with 15 social gaming titles.

The company notes that the service itself will be free, but some games might charge a monthly fee that can be paid with your monthly phone bill, or using Docomo’s virtual ‘dcoin’ service or Docomo subscriber points. It will be interesting to see how this new gaming platform changes the dynamic of Japan’s already mature and competitive mobile gaming space, with platforms like GREE and DeNA’s Mobage already well established.

Docomo Does Shopping

Interestingly, Docomo also announced today that it will begin offering online shopping through its dmarket content portal in December. This ‘dshopping’ service will allow people to buy everyday items like drinking water or shampoo, thanks to Docomo subsidiary retailers.

The company also announced today that it will be allying with MasterCard Worldwide to make MasterCard PayPass available to Docomo smartphone users with compatible NFC-enabled handsets, allowing them to make payments with their mobile in 500,000 PayPass locations in 41 countries.

A couple of days ago Docomo also announced a partnership with Korea’s KT Corporation on a cross-border e-payment service as well.

Oh, and some new phones too

All the news above might have hijacked Docomo’s announcement of its new mobile line up, which includes a number of new Android smartphones, including Sharp’s Aquos Phone Zeta, the Galaxy SIII Alpha (now on Android 4.1), Sony’s Xperia AX, and a new model of its Fujitsu Arrows tablet.

Update October 16: Docomo has put video of their new phone event online (along with the Q&A session). Here it is below.

With news of protests all over the world recently, I confess that technology news has been a relief lately for me. Even tech headlines saw some ugly politics leaking in this week, and we also heard about a fishy scam in the startup world as well.

But before you throw in the towel on humanity and jump the next escape pod to Mars, there were a few space-age gadgets that point to a promising future here on earth. Read on to find out more in our staff picks from this week’s Asia tech news.

Charle’s pick: Upgraded Railway Ministry Site Already Broken

This week we reported about the Railway Ministry’s new site upgrades, then immediately saw them fail. That shouldn’t be much of a shock, but it is when you factor in the site’s price tag: $52 million. WTF, China.

Rick’s pick: Baidu’s Digital Patriotism Looks Like Corporate Suicide for Overseas Expansion Plans

While I disagree with my colleague’s label of ‘corporate suicide’ here, I do think that Baidu creating a Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands doodle on its homepage was irresponsible, leveraging a socially volatile and occasionally violent situation for its own benefit. The subsequent PR spin was impressive, but if Baidu’s purpose was really to encourage a rational response to the island dispute, then planting a big red flag in front of half a billion Chinese net users on your homepage (a bold political/emotive stance) is an odd way to go about it.

Enricko’s pick: Australian Entreprenurs Aim to Reinvent the Light Bulb With LIFX

Improving traditional light bulbs with smartphones? I love this idea! Why didn’t anyone think of this before? The idea does look awesome, the challenge definitely lies in the execution. But if it works? Wow! It could revolutionize to the light bulb industry for the next decade.

Steven’s pick: Google Shuts Its China-Only Music Service

Despite surving the shutdown of the Google.cn search engine during Google’s spectacular stand-off with censorship-lovin’ authorities, its China-only music service got killed off on Friday. An official Google blog post confirmed that the Google China music streaming and downloading service wasn’t proving popular enough – good news for rival Baidu and its own musical offerings.

Andrew’s pick: Dear Whatsapp, Aren’t You Threatened By WeChat?

I’ve been complaining about Whatsapp ever since I started using WeChat. And I couldn’t agree more with this piece. Whatsapp just failed to innovate. Aren’t you sick and tired of downloading updates, going from version 1.1 to version 9.9, only to realize that there are hardly any changes at all? For god’s sake Whatsapp, just innovate already!

Willis’s pick: The Red Herring Awards Scam

I think the Red Herring Awards have pissed off many entrepreneurs and I’m happy to make this scam known publicly, just so entrepreneurs can avoid it in the future.

Minghao’s pick: Docomo Gives a Sneak Peek at Futuristic video-Phone Glasses

This report about a concept video-phone glasses device reminds me of the Google glasses launched a while back in Google IO conference. With new smartphones with almost identical features being launched every week, have smartphones has already reached it’s peak of innovation. After Apple, who will be next to innovate?

Docomo's Hands-free Video Phone Glasses Concept

We’ve already told you about two innovative mobile interfaces (see ibeam and Grip UI) unveiled by NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) at its CEATEC preview yesterday. As cool as those projects were, perhaps the gadget that was attracting the most attention yesterday was its set of video-phone glasses.

The concept device is headpiece/glasses combo, with seven cameras that capture the wearer’s facial image to send to the person he/she is communicating with. There are three ultra wide-angle cameras located on each side of the glasses’ frame, six in total which produce an image of your face. There is also a camera on the back of the head piece which captures an image of whatever is behind you. What the other person will see is an image of your face, overlaid of top of the background you are positioned in front of.

As for the mouth, when you speak the device will animate your mouth movements based on sound input. As I understand it the cameras’ view will not quite extend to cover your mouth and lower face while you are speaking, but rather the face is reconstructed based on images previously taken.

The problem that this device aspires to solve, says Docomo, is the trouble of having to hold your mobile phone steadily in front of you while you do a mobile voice call.

Of course, as you can see from the pictures the device is quite big and bulky, and perhaps not quite the most comfortable trade-off for your tiny mobile device for video calls. But it should be pointed out that this is still a concept device that is part of Docomo’s research into what could be a wearable, eye-glasses device for the future.

Astute readers may recall that in previous years Docomo has displayed another futuristic glasses concept. It AR Walker glasses prototype was demonstrated at CEATEC 2010, providing you with useful information about your environment on a tiny LCD in front of you, two years before Google Glasses came along.

On Wednesday in Tokyo, NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) displayed a number of fun new mobile technologies which it will feature at the upcoming CEATEC conference in October. We featured this amazing ibeam tablet that can be controlled with your eyes earlier in the day. In keeping with the theme of ‘pressing buttons is for suckas,’ Docomo also highlighted what it calls a Grip UI concept, which allows users to interact with a smartphone by gripping it in different ways.

I had a chance to try this out, and it was interesting to see the screen respond to different pressure applied both on the sides of the phone, as well as around the back [1].

In addition to sensing where pressure is applied, this technology will detect different levels of pressure applied, and can execute certain functions or shortcuts corresponding to specific input. So for example, such input could be used to unlock your phone by gripping it in a certain manner, or to launch a browser or other application. I’m wondering if there might be some exciting implications for gaming input as well.

Just like the eye-tracking ibeam prototype, such technology would be of use in situations where you might not have two hands available. And here in Japan, commuters on a train (clinging to a strap) would certainly appreciate this.

ibeam tablet: balloons on the verge of being destroyed

It appears to be Docomo’s (NYSE:DCM) habit in recent years of teasing its latest new tech just ahead of Japan’s CEATEC conference, the country’s answer to CES. Among the projects the company showed off today in Tokyo was ibeam, a tablet prototype which uses an embedded eye-tracking function from Sweden-based Tobii.

Docomo presented this as a user interface for a Fujitsu-made tablet today, and I was pretty pleasantly surprised with the results. Essentially the user just focuses their eyes on whatever item they wish to select on-screen, and the software recognizes this as user input.

Some functions were demonstrated today, including an intriguing pop-the-balloon game, where the user is tasked with focusing on popping balloons that float up the screen, but avoiding accidentally exploding bombs that will end your game. The controls were surprisingly accurate, and this was amazingly fun to play.

Users can also use the interface to scroll through a browser, turn pages of a book, or even highlight specific words to trigger a dictionary pop-up.

I initially thought that this solution would be an accessibility solution, targeting people with limited use of their hands or arms. But a Docomo representative tells me that this is something they think everyone could benefit from. The company notes in its announcement that persons who are standing on a train holding a strap, or carrying bags — such people could certainly benefit from such an interface when they don’t have both hands free for a conventional touch interface.

The ibeam tablet prototype will be on display at CEATEC in Tokyo from October 2nd-6th.

LG Optimus G, at Docomo event in Japan

NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) today announced a number of new mobile devices for the fall, including two 7-inch tablets from Samsung and NEC which we wrote about earlier. But the standout of the three smartphones that were unveiled was LG’s (066570:KS) Optimus G, which features a 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, making it the first LTE device to run on that processor.

It will boast 2GB of RAM and will run on Android 4.0. According to LG, the handset will feature a 4.7 inch WXGA HD IPS+ display, boasting improved visibility, a thinner screen panel, and increased strength. and a rear facing camera shooting at 13 megapixels.

LG Electronics Mobile CEO, Dr. Jong-seok Park, praised his company’s new smartphone in an announcement this afternoon:

Optimus G isn’t just another high-performance phone with the latest bells and whistles. It’s a collaboration of some of the best component makers on the planet coming together for a singular cause, to develop a smartphone that stands out in a sea of me-too devices.

The Optimus G is due for release in Japan in either October or November, available in red (see below) and black. For that market, the handset will be compatible with Docomo’s Xi LTE service, and be equipped with osaifu-keitai mobile wallet functionality, as well as one-seg television and the ability to use Docomo’s NotTV online streaming service.

The global version of the Optimus G will go on sale a little sooner in Korea in September on all three local mobile carriers, with other markets to follow soon after.

Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) held a small press event today to show off a few new mobile devices. Perhaps the most notable among them, I thought, was the NEC Medias Tab UL N-08D. This is a razor-thin 7.9mm thin tablet, with a 7-inch, 800 x 1280 resolution display. It weighs in at just 249 grams. Running on Android 4.0, the tablet is powered by a 1.5 GHz processor; more or less par for the course.

But what was especially fun about this tablet was that it features haptic feedback, or in other words, when you press buttons on the touchscreen, you feel a slight vibration response. So when you dial numbers, or when you type using the on-screen keyboard, you feel a response. There’s even a fun super-ball game that demonstrates the function, making the tablet vibrate when the ball hits the sides of the box (see picture). I had a chance to try it out briefly, and it works pretty well and is an interesting experience. Personally, I’m a big fan of touchscreens with haptic feedback, and hopefully in the future we can see it integrated into our mobile games.

As for the rest of the specifications, the tablet is equipped with an 8 megapixel camera on the rear, and a 2 megapixel camera on the front. It will be compatible with Docomo’s Xi LTE network, and will also feature one-seg television. The Medias Tab UL N-O8D is set for release in September or October. No word yet on the price tag for this one.

NEC Medias Tab, superball game with haptic feedback

NEC Medias Tab, side view, 7.9mm thin

I’ve noted before that there might be an opportunity for tablet makers in Japan to succeed with the 7-inch form factor where they might not overseas. The ability to hold and operate a device with one hand is important for many consumers in Japan, since many people spend so much time commuting on crowded trains.

Similarly, Docomo also showed off the Samsung (005930:KS) Galaxy Tab 7.7 Plus tablet, which is also 7.9mm thin, and is said to be the world’d largest organic EL display at 7.7 inches. It will also feature a 1.5 GHz dual core processor, and comes with a 3 megapixel camera on the rear and a 2 megapixel camera around the front.

It will also be the first Galaxy model with support for Docomo’s NotTV streaming video service subscription service, which recently surpassed 100,000 users.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 Plus tablet is scheduled for release in October or November.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Plus SC-01E

Softbank in Roppongi, Tokyo A few days ago new numbers from the Telecommunications Carriers Association in Japan showed that Softbank (TSE:9984) had picked up the most subscribers in July, with 221,700 new sign-ups. Japan’s largest carrier, NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM), was second with an increase of 151,100, followed by KDDI/au (TYO:9433) with 48,500 (reportedly its lowest total in three years). In addition to snagging the biggest subscriber gain in July, Softbank today has another reason to celebrate. According to its CEO, Masayoshi Son, on August 11 the carrier passed the milestone of 30,000,000 subscribers (thanks to @wireless_watch for the tip). And while that’s still far behind Docomo, who passed 60 million subscribers on March 11; and au who passed 35 million subscribers in the same month (see chart below). Looking at the monthly gains over the past year or so, Softbank has been doing pretty well in its efforts to catch up with Docomo and au, consistently topping them in subscribers gained. Docomo had an especially big swing that came as a result of about 100,000 Playstation Vita prepaid subscribers whose six month contracts expired in June (see spike in December, dip for June).

Japanese Carriers, Monthly Subscriber Gains (TCA, July 2012)

[Download image version of this chart]

Japanese Carriers, Subscriber Totals (TCA, July 2012)

[Download image version of this chart]

AKB48's show "AKB48 no Anta, Dare?"

Mmbi Inc.’s NotTV mobile television service has surpassed 100,000 subscribers on July 28, just 119 days after the service began in April. The mobile channel costs 420 yen (or $5.37) per month.

The subscriber base was at 61,769 at the end of June, but that total has apparently gotten a big boost from Docomo’s (NYSE:DCM) new summer smartphone lineup, five of which are NotTV compatible. When the service launched there were only two models that were compatible.

The broadcast area is also being expanded, and it was previously stated that the subscriber goal for the first year was 1,000,000 with an eventual target of 10 million members. It remains to be seen if NotTV can hit that goal, but if more handsets support the service in the fall, then it is certainly a possibility.

Docomo and Dentsu are stakeholders in in the service. [Via IT Pro, photo: sanspo.com]

NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) is announcing today that its LTE service has passed the 4 million subscriber milestone on July 22, just 44 days after reaching the 3 million subscriber mark back on June 8.

July has been especially good to the Japanese carrier, after it launched the Samsung Galaxy III handset on June 28, selling over 200,000 units as of a week ago. Surely many of those new handsets account for a lot of new subscribers. Check out the sharp increase for July in the interactive graph below.

Meanwhile in neighboring Korea, SK Telecom (SEO:017670; NYSE:SKM) also hit the 4 million subscriber mark for its LTE service, coincidentally also 44 days after it had reached 3 million. It’s domestic competitor KT Corp has about 1.4 million, and LG Uplus Corp is near 3 million, according to a Korea Times report.

[Download image version of chart]

Japan’s NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) today announced that it has completed its $22.5 million investment in its joint venture with China’s Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU).

Docomo will have 20 percent ownership of the joint venture, Baidu Yi Xin, which is a mobile content platform provider. The agreement between the two companies was first announced last year.

According to Chinese media reports in April, Baidu Yi Xin boasted over 5 million original books downloaded (sourced from original publishing companies and third party sites dealing with publishers) and traffic of about 100 million page views per day.

Today’s announcement notes that in August Baidu Yi Xin will provide content from Japan, first collaborating with Japanese social gaming giant DeNA. Docomo says that it is “actively expanding Chinese market access for Japanese service and content providers”

The Asahi Shimbun also cited new Docomo president Kaoru Kato (pictured above) today as saying that the company will begin selling smartphone games in the fall or winter, with new content being offered in its d-market service.

On Thursday morning in Tokyo, NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) held a pair of launch events for the flagship handset of its new summer lineup, the Samsung Galaxy S III. I had a chance to swing by the Yurakucho Bic Camera event, where Docomo’s recently appointed CEO Kaoru Kato made an appearance to make the occasion.

For Korea-based manufacturer Samsung (005930:KS), the Galaxy S III represents the strongest Android challenger to Apple’s iPhone on the market, and it will be interesting to see not only how Japanese consumers take to it, but also how consumers around the globe respond.

J.K. Shin, the president of Samsung mobile communications, recently noted that the handset will sell better than previous Galaxy models, and should pass the 10 million unit milestone by July.

The Galaxy S III went on sale in the United States on June 21, and then on June 25 in its home market of South Korea. Today’s launch marks the phone’s official entrance into the Japanese market.

We received word from the folks over at CoolIris that the service has just received a strategic investment from the venture arm of Japanese carrier Docomo (NYSE:DCM) for an undisclosed amount. Readers may recall that CoolIris launched its first international version of its LiveShare service in Japan late last year, and with this new investment it says that it hopes to expand its reach in Japan and around Asia.

The company says that since its Japan localization, it has seen a five-times increase in the amount of downloads. We’re not quite sure what that adds up to though, and regrettably CoolIris could not share exact metrics. Eisuke Miki, the president and CEO of Docomo Capital noted why CoolIris was an attractive investment target in the announcement:

Consumers are keen to enjoy apps that enable a rich experience in their everyday mobile communications… Cooliris is an innovative company that has profound expertise in visual communications. We are pleased to participate in the financing round as a new strategic investor.

I asked a representative if this meant that we would be seeing LiveShare on Docomo phones soon, and I’m told that this is something that “we can definitely look forward to.” The company couldn’t disclose many specifics, but I understand that it has some big plans upcoming in the near future, so stay tuned for those. The company has a new CoolIris app upcoming as well, and users can be notified of its release by signing up here.

It’s important to note that CoolIris is more than just its core media-sharing product, LiveShare, as the company also developed Adjitsu, a 3D mobile advertising unit that was acquired by Singtel for an undisclosed sum.

NTT Docomo is announcing today that its total amount of subscribers to its LTE Xi service surpassed the 3 million user mark on June 8th. Readers may recall that it was only back in March when the company announced its 2 millionth LTE subscriber.

With a number of LTE enabled handsets and mobile wi-fi devices now in its lineup, subscriber growth has been pretty sharp since last November, as you can see in the chart below, which includes figures up until the end of May. With even more LTE additions to its handset lineup, including the Samsung Galaxy III and the rest of its Next series, expect LTE adoption to continue growing well.

Looking at the overall picture in Japan’s mobile space, updated figures from Japan’s Telecom Carriers Association show Docomo at nearly 60.4 million total subscribers [1]. Au has about 35.5 million, while rival Softbank should reach a milestone of its own in a few months, as it is slowly approaching 30 million. But expect the iPhone 5 to shake things up a little whenever it hits Japan.

Here’s a great video demo of a smartphone prototype from NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) which has a see-through display that (like the Sony reach-around PS Vita) accepts touch input on both sides. This allows you to do gripping actions, holding an object in place while moving something else.

Practical? I’m not sure yet. One advantage is that you can move things on screen from the back without your finger obstructing your view as it usually does. In any case, it sure does look cool.

A couple of years back TDK showed off a similar concept, with a flexible OLED display – although for Docomo to create an Android prototype with touch input on both sides, this is certainly much cooler.

Co-developed by Docomo and Fujitsu, the transparent screen currently is a 2.4-inch QVGA display. I can’t help but think that if it were scaled up to something much bigger, it might look a little like Tom Cruise’s Minority Report computer (see right). The possibilities for two person gaming, with a person on each side are pretty mind boggling. Off the top of my head, I’m sure patty-cake [1] would be a huge hit!

But I digress…

Check out the video below from Diginfo News for a demonstration of how Docomo’s transparent smartphone screen works.

[Via Akihabara News]

From B-Mobile's promo page for the new SIM card

A Nikkei report on Monday claimed that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) was about to sell prepaid 500 MB SIM cards in Japan. And today those cards are now available on Amazon Japan for 1980 yen per month (or about $25).

According to my understanding, users must make an initial ‘sim package’ purchase of 3,150 yen, and then once they use up their 500 MB, they can purchase an additional 500 MB for another 1,980 yen via credit card, which would be a total of 3,960 yen (or $50) for that month.

The data that you don’t use each month is not carried over to the following month. Frankly, that seems really crappy to me. It would be nice to pay for what you use, not more than what you actually use. But mobile companies in Japan have always been good at milking cash from consumers (with the highest mobile ARPU in the world), so this is par for the course in my opinion. Thankfully the service will notify you via email when you are down to your last 100 MB.

It’s officially a B-Mobile 4G/LTE card (available as a standard SIM and as a micro SIM). It’s LTE enabled and will use Docomo’s network. According to B-Mobile, the card will be used for data only, and will not support voice calls, SMS, or MMS. Nikkei reported previously that these cards will be able to function in Docomo’s mobile devices, in addition to compatible foreign handsets such as the iPhone.

Actress Maki Horikita, Docomo's Ryuji Yamada, Actor Ken Watanabe

After KDDI (TYO:9433) rolled out its new summer smartphone lineup yesterday, rival carrier NTT Docomo unveiled its own repertoire of handsets today. The entire lineup includes 16 smartphones, all of which will run Android 4.0, the most notable among them being the Samsung’s Galaxy III and the flashy Sharp Evangelion phone.

The company also announced that it will be supporting its new lineup with what it’s calling ‘Docomo Cloud.’ Among the many services included will be its very impressive Shabette Concier voice command application (or personal assistant, if you prefer Apple terminology) which has been downloaded 2 million times already. In June the service will be ‘enhanced,’ says Docomo.

The carrier will also provide a message translation service called Mail-Hon’yaku-Concier. It will be able to handle Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean to start, and will be able to translate things such as email and social networking messages. In addition to that, Docomo will provide a ‘Photo Collection’ service with five gigabytes of free storage this coming August. The company will also offer a flat-rate anime and music service for 420 yen per month (about $5).

It’s great to see Docomo’s Android lineup being bolstered in so many ways, although it does bring to mind a quote from Innovation Works Kaifu Lee cited by my colleague earlier today on why some companies fail in the mobile space:

[Some companies] try to use Android to create their own iPhone-style high-profit closed ecosystem, which isn’t realistic.

Of course Docomo is not just any company when it comes to mobile, and like the other Japanese carriers it has been very good at squeezing cash from its 60 million strong subscriber base. During the press conference, Docomo’s Ryuji Yamada again fielded the “still no iPhone” question, something he’s surely sick of doing. Docomo still does not carry the iPhone (carried by KDDI and Softbank), and he noted that “under the current situation, introduction of the iPhone could be quite difficult.”

But does Docomo even need the iPhone? Its new cloud offerings do help to make its ecosystem a little more current and its network a little bit more intelligent.

Japan’s leading mobile carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) announced yesterday that its high speed mobile LTE service, Xi , surpassed the two million subscribers milestone on March 18th.

According to the announcement, the service – which had initially launched back in December of 2010 – reached a million subscribers one year later on December 25th of 2011. Since then user adoption has picked up, surpassing the two million mark just last week. This count includes smartphones, tablets, and data communication devices. I’m starting to see more and more of my friends suddenly saying they have new LTE pocket wifi devices as well

It was only recently that Docomo announced that it’s total mobile subscriber count (including 2G, 3G, and LTE) had surpassed the 60 million mark, putting it well ahead of its closest competitors, SoftBank and KDDI’s au.

Japan’s NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) announced today that it has hit the 60 million mobile subscribers milestone on March 11 [1]. Our readers may remember that we took an animated walk through Japan’s mobile subscriber data last week, which shows Docomo’s growth over the past 16 years.

The company actually hit its first million back in 1993, and rapidly grew to 40 million by 2002. As you can see below, the next ten years showed steady growth – albeit at a slower rate – all the way up until now when the company claims 60 million.

The network remains Japan’s largest carrier, with almost as large a subscriber base as rivals Softbank and au combined. And while Docomo does not yet have Apple’s iPhone, which is currently the top handset in Japan in terms of shipments, it does have a lineup of Android devices that it feels can strongly compete. And if a recent demo of its personal assistant app against Apple’s Siri is any indication, they might be fine without it.

For anyone interested in the Japanese mobile market, the figures from the Telecommunications Carriers Association website are a great resource. Interestingly, the monthly mobile subscriber figures go all the way back to 1996. That’s more than 15 years of data!

I thought it would be interesting to collect the figures from each carrier, and present it all together as an animation over time, spanning 1996 to 2012. In the chart below you can see that NTT Docomo has been the dominant carrier throughout, with challengers au and Softbank rising to prominence over the past six years or so [1].

You can begin the animation below by pressing ‘play’ on the left. All data is from TCA with subscribers measured in the thousands. If you’d like to re-use what I’ve collected, it’s available here.

A few days back Docomo (NYSE:DCM) announced its voice-agent application, Shabette Concier, an app that immediately draws comparisons to Apple’s smartphone personal assistant Siri. The application became available on the Android Market yesterday, and can run on Android version 2.2 or higher.

There are a number of tasks that the application can perform in response to voice commands, like searches from content providers such as Wikipedia, checking train times, or creating a mail or setting an alarm.

While I’ve not tested Shabette Conceir myself [1] a few Japanese early adopters have tested out the application and posted the video on YouTube. The one below is a little out of focus, but gives a good example of the tasks Shabette Concier can do, like setting alarms and even helping out if you have a headache. You can check out screenshots of the app below. The sheep character is pretty cute too.

While many might pass off Docomo’s app as a me-too response to Siri, it should be noted that the company is no stranger to processing spoken input on mobile phones. It has already developed a mobile simultaneous translation system for spoken input, which we first got a look at during the Wireless Expo 2011.

Softbank in Roppongi, Tokyo

Softbank Mobile Corp. announced on its website today that it has been approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to proceed with its proposed base station plan for the 900MHz band of wireless spectrum.

This band became available thanks to Japan’s switch to digital TV last year, as it was previously in use by the analog system. What’s interesting though is that the band wasn’t auctioned off by the Ministry, but rather awarded to Softbank after its proposal was submitted last month. The company elaborated on its plan:

The purpose of this application was to cope with the dramatic increase of traffic, enhance coverage, and build a robust disaster-proof communication network… The approved base station plan incorporates the installation of approximately 16,000 base stations in fiscal 2012, to be expanded up to 41,000 by fiscal 2016, providing 99.9 percent population coverage.

The services using the 900MHz band are on course to launch on July 25 of this year. Among the compatible devices for these services are Apple’s iPhone and iPad, as well as Softbank’s (TSE:9984) coming summer lineup of handsets.

It’s certainly good news for Softbank and its customers, because in addition to the afore-mentioned necessity of disaster preparedness, there is also the problem of dramatically increased data consumption. Both Docomo and KDDI have experienced outages in recent months, the former citing data hungry VoIP applications as one possible cause. With regards to disaster preparedness, Docomo announced a list of measures it would be taking, in the wake of lessons learned from last year’s earthquake in March.

Eye-Fi, a maker of wireless memory cards, has announced that it has raised $20 million in Series D funding, led by Japan’s NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) with $14 million. In addition, Docomo will be the first partner for Eye-Fi to launch card activation on mobile phones, coming this April.

Docomo’s managing director of ubiquitous services department, Koichi Takahara, explained:

Eye-Fi changes how customers interact with their photos, mobile devices and the people they want to share with. So, if someone wants to give a digital photo frame to each member of their family, they can now instantly upload new memories to each frame straight from their mobile phone or camera.

I expect the photo frame solution doesn’t excite many of our readers, but the partnership also means users can share photos more easily to online photo sites as well without having to dump them to a computer first. With the Eye-Fi card in your camera, photos can be sent to your mobile device, and from there into the cloud — or if you wish, to a photo frame.

According to a Kyodo news report earlier this week, Japanese carrier KDDI (TYO:9433) experienced a data communication disruption that affected over six million users. Our readers may recall that it was just a few weeks back when NTT Docomo experienced a similar service disruption, which it subsequently attributed to increased smartphone usage — particularly the increased use of VoIP applications like Naver Japan’s very popular Line.

What I thought was curious about the KDDI was that the company also acknowledged heavier data traffic from smartphones as a possible cause. From Kyodo’s report:

The latest trouble was caused by a failed electric supply to [KDDI’s] computer servers for e-mail services, but the incident had no impact on voice calls and Internet access, it said, adding that the failure may have resulted from an increase in data communication traffic for smartphones.

While it’s not surprising that carriers are having difficulties accommodating the increased data usage that comes with the rise of smartphones, I was curious to know to what extent Naver Japan’s Line app (with 15 million downloads in seven months) was creating difficulties for KDDI. I sent inquiries to representatives at both KDDI and Naver Japan on Monday, but as yet have not received a reply.

When we attended the Global Mobile Internet Conference last year, Softbank Mobile Corp’s executive vice president Ted Matsumoto commented on increased data usage in Japan:

46 percent is voice and SMS, the rest is data. Data usage is increasing steadily as voice is declining, becoming less and less important. Someday it will be replaced by VOIP.

The big value for us is that smartphones create traffic. We are the people who are in front of the end users to integrate and support the entire value chain. Network operation is only a part of our business. The important thing is that we are in front of end users responsible for end user satisfaction.

So while increased data usage is certainly a welcome thing for providers, this last point on end user satisfaction is key. Can carriers in Japan stay ahead of customer demand without experiencing the outages we have seen in recent weeks? Will new, data-hungry apps like Line be allowed to grow without interference from carriers? And perhaps most importantly, how will carriers’ networks respond in times of crisis like last year’s earthquake? All three major mobile operators (Docomo, KDDI, and Softbank) experienced major outages during the March 11 earthquake last year.

The Nikkei Business Daily is reporting that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will start selling its Kindle ebook reader in Japan as early as April, with pricing falling somewhere in the 10,000 to 20,000 yen range ($130 to $260). The Kindle Touch will likely be the company’s flagship device, and will reportedly have free data access via Docomo’s (NYSE:DCM) 3G network.

Sale of the device would of course require that Amazon first nail down a deal with Japanese publishers for its e-book service in the country, something which has proven elusive for the company thus far.

As for the Kindle Fire tablet, that device still remains exclusively on sale only in the US.

The Japanese ebook market was worth 65 billion yen (or about $846.9 million) back in 2010, but the print market was worth about 30 times that at two trillion yen (nearly $26 billion).

Line has experienced explosive growth -- Photo: ameblo.jp/k-1guide

In the wake of its most recent network disruption, Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) is scrambling to find ways to improve both its network service and its public image. The company has said that a number of free VoIP applications were a major cause behind the service disruption on Wednesday. We got in touch with a Docomo representative this afternoon to find out which apps were the biggest culprits.

Not surprisingly Skype is one, but readers might be interested to know that up-and-coming voice chat app Line was the first one mentioned. Last week we reported that Line has just passed 15 million downloads, just 30 days after hitting the 10 million download mark one month before. Naver Japan has been running some TV adverts for Line over the past few months (see below), which have likely also contributed to the apps explosive growth.

It will be interesting to watch how Japanese telecoms adjust to the many new ways that consumers are using data. Docomo of course has its new LTE network, although for the time being it still has to find some way to satisfy the rest of its customers. Docomo has also reportedly asked Google to modify its Android operating system in such a way that would put less strain on its network. The carrier’s smartphone lineup is entirely Android (the iPhone 4S is on competing networks au and Softbank) and it’s interesting to note that Android does appear to consumer more data than iOS.

The Nikkei reported (and Docomo confirms) that the company will ask company president and CEO Ryuji Yamada and other execs to take pay cuts in order to take responsibility for the outages. The report notes that this is expected to amount to 20 percent of Yamada’s pay for three months, and 10 percent for the other directors.

Despite Docomo’s recent troubles, the company had the largest net gain in subscribers among all major Japanese telcos in December.

NEC Medias PP, for Docomo

Some startling news coming from electronics maker NEC in Japan, who reportedly said yesterday that it will be cutting 10,000 jobs from its workforce, with most of those coming from its mobile unit. A report from Reuters cites competition from foreign players in the smartphone space, including Apple’s iPhone, negatively impacting NEC’s business in Japan.

The report went on to say that NEC has cut its annual projected sales by almost a quarter to five million phones, and that the company would post a net loss of 100 billion yen (or $1.3 billion) for the year to March 31.

I find the direct references to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) here interesting [1], because most companies will usually put on a brave face and avoid acknowledgement of the iPhone threat. Docomo (NYSE:DCM), who carries NEC’s Medias smartphone as one of its top Android offerings, has asserted that its Android lineup includes many worthy competitors that can “fully compete” with Apple’s iPhone, which currently operates on competing networks from Softbank and KDDI’s au.

NEC’s woes are yet another indication that Japanese companies can no longer be content to operate only in their own backyard. Manufacturers like Sony and Fujitsu seem to realize that they have to expand beyond Japan’s borders, and build their smartphone businesses in other markets if they are to remain successful in the long term.

Last night we told you about our talk with Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds, who told us their plans for a Valentine’s Day launch of their game on Facebook. But it looks like they aren’t the only company scheduling a launch on that holiday, as we learned today that Sharp is planning to release its unique Q-pot smartphones (aka ‘the chocolate phone’) on February 14th in Japan.

We first saw this unusual handset back at Docomo’s phone event last fall. I thought it was pretty weird then, and in fact, I still think it’s pretty weird! But given that customers can pre-order [1] leading up to its Valentines Day launch, this suddenly becomes a very cool gift idea for geeky girlfriends.

Photo: slashgear

It runs Android 2.3, and even has a ‘chocolaty’ display on its home screen. While the phone is rated for water resistance, I’m not certain what would happen if this were dropped in a glass of milk.

The Q-pot is a limited edition phone too, with only 50,000 units being produced [2]. So if you’re planning to impress your lady friend with this one, you might want to hit the stores early.

Docomo CEO Ryuji Yamada

Early this morning I noticed a barrage of Twitter messages complaining of a Docomo (NYSE:DCM) service outage here in Tokyo. According to a Bloomberg report this evening, Docomo says the service interruptions affected as many as 2.52 million users between 8:26am and 13:08 JST.

The report quotes a spokesman saying that a train stoppage ‘may’ (resulting in many sudden phone calls) be the reason for the for the problem, but if that’s the case it’s disappointing. Given that Docomo had just announced a new task force to improve its network infrastructure to address the problem of sudden traffic surges. That was in the wake of its sp-mode service malfunction on December 20th which saw email addresses swapped randomly and messages being misrouted to the wrong people.

Of course in Japan, the big concern with ensuring network reliability is that in the event of an earthquake, the major networks should be prepared to handle emergency communications. Back on March 11 when the earthquake hit Japan, telephone and internet service was severely affected, and the hope is that if such an event were to happen again that carriers would be better prepared.

Perhaps the most important service is the EEW systems, to which all major carriers (including Docomo) have committed. Back in August we saw very welcome news that Apple’s iOS 5 would include this early warning feature, a welcome (native) addition for iPhone users.

While the iPhone case market is pretty crowded these days, we’re still pretty surprised to see Nissan (TYO:7201) change lanes from its usual business to enter a player into the race. But the company is taking advantage of the same scratch-healing paint technology that goes into its cars to create its Scratch Shield iPhone case.

According to Nissan, small scratches in this paint can ‘heal’ in as quick as an hour, while deeper scratches could take as long as a week. Nissan worked with the University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc. to develop this technology, and this is the first time that it has been implemented in product other than a car. Nissan’s overseas program director for Nissan in Europe, Bob Laishley, explained:

We’re really excited about the possibilities provided by this technology. In Japan, we’ve already linked up with world-leading mobile operator Docomo (NYSE:DCM) to allow them to use the Scratch Shield technology on its Style Series N–03B mobile phones [1], and we think this technology has real scope beyond the automotive world.

So far this case is just a prototype, although Slashgear reports that the company is considering a commercial launch later in 2012. I suspect that the case is less of a commercial enterprise as it is a marketing endeavor. I mean, if you want your product to get exposure, there are certainly worse ways to do it than piggy-backing on the fame of the iPhone, right? In case you’re wondering what ‘Nissan Juke’ emblazoned on the side of the case refers to — yes, it’s a car.

Docomo's most recent mobile lineup had a number of handsets targeting females

Japan’s Telecommunications Carriers Association updated its monthly mobile subscriber data this week, with NTT Docomo making the biggest gains among the ‘big three’ mobile carriers. According to a report by Mainichi Shinbun, this marks the first time in 21 months that Docomo (NYSE:DCM), Japan’s leading carrier in terms of subscribers, had the largest net gain. The report attributes part of Docomo’s gain to the launch of the PlayStation Vita which has Docomo as its official 3G provider.

After the iPhone 4S arrived on both Softbank’s (TYO:9984) and KDDI’s au (TYO:9433) networks, the carrier wars were suddenly interesting, with market leader Docomo having to compete with its lineup of Android phones. But Docomo still sits pretty comfortably ahead occupying almost half of the market at 47.5 percent (see charts below) [1].

Docomo maintains that it can continue to do well without an iPhone in its lineup, and that’s good, because despite the rumors it doesn’t look like it have one anytime soon.

Actress Maki Horikita and actor Ken Watabe at Docomo phone event

Today Docomo (NYSE:DCM) announced the formation of a consortium with other Japanese carriers Softbank (TYO:9433) and KDDI (TYO:9984), in an effort to ‘coordinate the adoption’ of international standards for mobile NFC technology [1].

We’ve been hearing a lot about NFC adoption around the world, particularly this past year. When Google unveiled Google Wallet, it claimed that by 2014, 150 million phones would have NFC. But in order for the technology to serve consumers properly, particularly across borders, there needs to be agreed-upon standards.

Hopefully this new consortium (which will bear the very catchy name of ‘Japan Mobile NFC Consortium’) is a positive step towards better services being offered in Japan.

Of course, Japan has pioneered mobile payments via NFC/FeliCa technology in the past, with systems like Osaifu-Keitai already in use by mobile operators for things like payments on public transit or purchases in stores. Docomo itself has sold 36.6 million handsets with NFC functionality in the first half of the 2011 fiscal year.

We had a preview of LG’s Optimus LTE phone back in October at the unveiling of Docomo’s (NYSE:DCM) winter lineup. And today LG (003550:KS) is officially launching it in Japan, as we’ve received a short announcement from the company this morning.

With a 4.5-inch HD IPS display, and mobile wallet and one-seg functions, the handset is one of Docomo’s top Android offerings. And while the front view looks like most other high-end smartphones (iPhone and Galaxy S/SII), the bright red on the rear is a nice differentiator, though a cosmetic one. LG Mobile’s president and CEO Dr. Jong-seok Park noted:

The Optimus LTE is one of LG’s most promising devices and has already been received well in Korea, Canada and the United States… As a worldwide innovator in mobile LTE technology, we are committed to developing high-quality devices that showcase our technical experience and True HD IPS display.

For a closer look, you can check out some of LG’s kimono-tastic promotional images for the Optimus LTE below.

Docomo offers many Android handsets, but still no iPhone

Nikkei Business Online is reporting this morning that Docomo (NYSE:DCM) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have reached an agreement on a 2012 release of a 4G LTE iPhone and iPad on the Docomo network. But when we reached out to Docomo representatives this morning, we were told in a brief statement that the company has “no discussion going on with Apple.”

Currently Apple’s iPhone is running on Softbank and au, with Docomo offering a wide range of Android alternatives, reportedly hoping for the iPhone but with some reservations about issues like volume as well as Docomo’s in-house applications which it likes to run on its phones.

The Nikkei Business piece also said that Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Docomo execs last month, but when we followed up with Docomo about this we were told that there was ‘no discussion last month.’ It should be pointed out that even if there was such a meeting, it might not mean much. There was a similarly reported Tim Cook visit at China Mobile headquarters back in June, and no breakthrough has been made to date to bring the phone to that network either.

As for Docomo, I have my fingers crossed that it will be selling the iPhone next year, but I’m not holding my breath… We’ll keep you posted.

Actress Maki Horikita, Docomo CEO Ryuji Yamada, Actor Ken Watanabe

Back in October when I dropped in on Docomo’s Winter phone lineup event, one of the most interesting statements made by its CEO Ryuji Yamada was that he felt Docomo can “fully compete” with the Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S. Looking at his comments today in discussion with The Wall Street Journal, we get a somewhat clearer picture on why the iPhone remains a competing phone rather than a partner.

While the report quotes him as saying that Docomo has not given up hope of offering the iPhone, but expressed reservations about volume:

If the introduction of the iPhone results in the mass majority of our products occupied by the iPhone, then that’s a scenario that’s difficult to us to swallow.

Another sticking point appears to be Docomo’s in-house applications like its e-wallet and i-mode mail service, which Yamada says are important for Japanese customers — though Apple prefers and insists upon a cleaner experience.

Speaking as a Docomo subscriber, I’d like to see an iPhone come to the network one of these days. But given the recent growth of Android smartphones, I think that as long as the company has a good selection of alternatives (see Samsung Galaxy S II LTE, and the upcoming Galaxy Nexus) then it should be in good shape.

But having said that, if the iPhone were offered on Docomo’s network, I can’t really imagine myself going near any of those Android offerings. But that’s just me…

Softbank in Roppongi, Tokyo

When Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S went on sale, Japanese consumers were eager to queue up as much fans elsewhere around the world. With the iPhone now running on KDDI au (TYO:9433) as well as Softbank (TYO:9984), we were curious to see how the new iPhone would affect the carrier wars in Japan.

Well, new sales numbers from BCN Ranking in Japan (h/t Akky at Asiajin) show that – at least from retail stores (i.e. not including Apple and carrier stores) – the competition between Au and Softbank is intense.

For the week of October 10 to 16, Softbank holds just a slight edge with 51.8 percent of iPhone 4S sales versus 48.4 for au. You can see the breakdown in the chart below. Of course, Softbank is still selling the iPhone 4, and if that’s included, then Softbank still holds an edge.

BCN: Oct 10-16 retail sales

Meanwhile, the country’s leading carrier NTT Docomo just rolled out its own line of smartphones last week, as we reported here. The new lineup included four new LTE phones, including the Samsung Galaxy SII. The company is also scheduled to roll out the new Android 4.0 Samsung Galaxy Nexus in November, which should be its strongest smartphone competitor for the iPhone 4S running on Softbank and au.

As we mentioned last week, Docomo’s CEO at least sounds confident that his new lineup of phones can “fully compete” with the iPhone. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the new year. The current overall breakdown of top handset sales according to BCN is below.

Docomo CEO, Ryuji Yamada, announced dmenu and dmarket

Earlier this evening we told you about Docomo’s (NYSE:DCM) brand new smartphone lineup. But the company also rolled out a content strategy of sorts, unveiling its new ‘dmenu’ and ‘dmarket’ services. These will become available in November and will aim to improve existing mobile content offerings.

According to Docomo, dmenu is a portal site for content from a range of providers, including its own i-mode content. As for dmarket, users can expect to find movies, music, e-books, and Android apps available there. As for dmarket, users can expect to find over 5,000 video titles (20,000 episodes in total), over a million songs (selling for 105 yen to 525 yen per song), and over 30,000 book titles from Japan’s leading publishers. There is also an ‘Appli’ or application section where users can download the latest apps.

The company had a couple of its content providers in attendance at today’s event. A Bandai Namco reporesentative took the stage to explain his company’s content contribution – to be honest – didn’t sound like too much. There was something about a ball-rolling game and a Pac-Man game (see right), neither of which struck me as overly attractive smartphone content. There was also a Simple 100 Series, which looks like a collection of casual games for when you want something less even less casual than Pac-Man.

There was also a representative from Imagineer who – among other things – explained that emoji can now move around in your text. That is kinda cool, but I was surprised that it received stage time as a part of Docomo’s content strategy. I initially expected some streaming media partnerships, or perhaps some games that look a little more modern.

During the Q&A session, CEO Ryuji Yamada got the inevitable iPhone question (the iPhone 4S just launched in Japan on competing networks Softbank and KDDI), asking how Docomo’s Android dominated lineup stacks as competition. He seemed to cling to the safety net of hardware specs (a haven for any Apple competitor), but overall he sounded pretty confident with their offering:

Compared to the iPhone 4S we are not inferior, from the dual core aspect we are one step ahead. Our sales efforts, with the handsets, and new dmenu and dmarket, mobile wallet, 1-seg, Xi — with these new features we can solidly compete. We feel that we can fully compete.

From today: Actress Maki Horikita, Docomo CEO Ryuji Yamada, Actor Ken Watanabe

This afternoon in Tokyo, Docomo (NYSE:DCM) rolled out its new Winter/Spring lineup of mobile devices, including 14 new smartphones, one tablet, and eight feature phones. Its smartphones have been recategorized into ‘Next’ and ‘With’ series. Seven models of phones will feature dual-core CPUs, five models come with HD displays, and four can take advantage of Docomo’s Xi LTE service.

All of Docomo’s smartphones are equipped for Docomo’s ‘Area Mail’ transmissions of earthquake early warnings, which is certainly good news.

Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus SC-02D

There was only one tablet added to Docomo’s lineup, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. It’s a 7-inch tablet that is 10mm thin, with a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU. This makes five tablets offered in total, if you include two two recently announced Sony tablets, as well as the previous Fujitsu and Samsung offerings.

Here’s a quick rundown with pictures of the smartphones from today’s event:

1. Fujitsu Arrows X LTE (F-05D)

• water-proof
• equipped for Xi service
• mobile wallet function
• one-seg mobile TV
• infrared data exchange
• Expected in December

Fujitsu Arrows X LTE (F-05D)

2. Samsung Galaxy S II LTE (SC-03D)

• 4.5 inch Super-AMOLED Plus display
• equipped for Xi service
• 1.5 GHz dual-core processor
• Expected in November or December

GALAXY S II LTE SC-03D

3. NEC Medias LTE (N-04D)

• Waterproof/dustproof
• equipped for Xi service
• mobile wallet function
• one-seg mobile TV
• infrared data exchange
• Expected in February

NEC Medias LTE

4. LG Optimus LTE (L-01D)

• 4.5-inch HD IPS display
• mobile wallet function
• one-seg mobile TV
• Expected in December

LG Optimus LTE

5. Fujitsu Arrows Kiss (F-03D) (w ‘Girls’ option)

• Jewelry motif (wait, what?)
• Comes with stylus for girlie memos and diary stuff
• Equipped for wireless battery charging
• ‘Girls’ version designed with Popteen magazine, includes mirror to check your appearance (yes, a mirror…)
• Arrows Kiss expected in November or December, Popteen version January or February.

6. Lumix Phone (P-02D)

• 13.2 megapixels
• Ease of use to upload to social networks
• Expected in November or December

7. Aquos Phone (SH-01D)

• Waterproof
• 4.5-inch ultra-HD LCD
• 12.1 megapixel camera
• anti-shake photo function
• Expected in November or December

8. Aquos Phone slider (SH-02D)

• Waterproof
• Slider form factor with 10-button numberpad
• Touchscreen soft keys also
• Equipped for wireless battery charging
• Expected in November or December

9. Sharp Q-pot Phone (SH-O4D)

• Has a chocolate motif
• Comes with ‘Chocobed’ battery charger
• Looks like a piece of chocolate
• Limited production of 30,000 units
• Expected in February

10. Toshiba Regza Phone (T-01D)

• First Docomo phone with fingerprint sensor
• geared towards visual entertainment
• Expected in November

11. Fujitsu Arrows µ (F-07D)

• Just 6.9mm thick
• 109 grams
• AMOLED display
• Gorilla Glass
• Expected in January

Photo: Impress (missed this one!)

12. Blackberry Bold 9900

• Features new Blackberry OS 7.0
• Touchscreen as well as physical keypad
• Expected in February or March

13. NEC Medias PP (N-01D)

• Waterproof
• 1700 mAh battery
• Equipped for wireless battery charging
• Expected in November or December

14. Panasonic P-01D

• Four color variations
• Rounded form factor
• Hard keys for simple use
• Expected in November

According to a statement, D2C actually made a token investment earlier this year. That token sum was then followed up by a $10 million investment which we learned of today. D2C is a subsidiary of Japanese telco, NTT Docomo, which also means that Affle should have access to Docomo’s wide reach in Japan. Or perhaps it is already working with Docomo.

D2C will also help Affle to scale by providing its know-how in the mobile industry. For D2C, investing in Affle pushes them into new markets. Takayuki Hoshuyama, CEO at D2C remarked:

Our partnership with Affle brought us immediate results; truncating the learning graph for the markets we have wanted to enter. We have been very impressed with the significant growth Affle has had over the last few years and value Affle’s deep knowledge of mobile consumer behaviour, relationships with large telecom companies and advertisers.

Affle partners with ten leading telcos which provides them with a combined reach of 500 million users. More than 100 advertisers use Affle products for their ad campaigns.

Affle was founded by Anuj Khanna Sohum in 2006. As a serial entrepreneur, Sohum started Anitus Technologies, his first company, at the age of 20 while studying at the National University of Singapore. Anitus Technologies was later acquired by Malaysian conglomerate MCSB. SecLore was Sohum’s second company which was subsequently acquired by Herald Logic in 2007. Sohum commented on the investment:

We are delighted to announce the deepening of our relationship with D2C, one of the most experienced and successful mobile advertising companies in the world. There are perfect synergies in our respective visions of being globally prevalent mobile media companies with great products which benefit consumers and ad industry alike.

[Hat tip: Techcircle]

Sony's Tablet S will be on display at CEATEC

CEATEC is all set to begin tomorrow in Tokyo. But as you may have noticed from many of our previous posts, many exhibitors have already tipped their hand to show what they have in store this year.

Docomo held an event back on September 21st to give a preview of many of the things we can expect to see there, including an assortment of smartphone jackets (they had ones for detecting radiation ones UV light, for example).

KDDI and Kyocera have their new speaker system to demo at the event as well. And Sony published its booth overview today, which is said to include its recent S and P Series tablets, as well as its curious 3D OLED headgear.

Considering that Apple’s iPhone event is also set for tomorrow (though a little later with the time difference), much of the press that exhibitors are hoping for will likely be buried under iPhone 5 news. Maybe tipping your hand early is a wise idea. Nonetheless, I’m still looking forward to a fun exhibition. I’m not sure how many surprises there will be, but there’s bound to be more than a few things that I’ve not seen first hand before.

If any of our readers will be visiting CEATEC, be sure to drop me a line.

smartphone radiation measurement jacket

Docomo held a CEATEC preview event yesterday afternoon, showing off an assortment of new mobile technologies that will be on display at the upcoming show. The majority of Docomo’s projects focused on mobile data collection, but there were some other interesting highlights as well.

Here’s a list of some of the more notable mobile technologies Docomo discussed:

• An assortment of smartphone jackets design to collect data such as UV light, bad breath, gamma radiation, and body fat. There was also a special jacket for high-speed battery charging.
• A smartphone-ready device that can measure acetone in your breath, which is an indication of your hunger level and fat burning. It can be used to tell you the best times to eat or exercise.
• Docomo’s environmental sensor network collects data from over 2,500 points nationwide, and makes it available visually via an augmented reality application.
• A food photo application that analyzes your images and checks them against a pre-existing database. It will then give you the calorie count for that meal, for a standard size portion.

You can check out the video below for a demonstration of many of these technologies. And look forward to seeing these at the CEATEC conference which kicks off on October 4th in Tokyo.

Xi demo area at Docomo

A report from Kyodo cites ‘sources close to the matter’ saying that Docomo is planning to partner with Samsung to “design and develop a chip for regulating wireless signals to be mounted on handsets for the LTE standard.” Other Japanese firms would be included in the alliance, including Fujitsu Ltd., NEC Corp., and Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. The planned cooperation is also being reported by the Nikkei business daily.

Docomo is said to be putting in the majority of capital for the project, amounting to $390 million dollars. Techcrunch noted that the partnership between companies is likely more about self-sufficiency than anything else:

At the heart of their alliance is their need for baseband chipsets. It’s one of the most important components in a phone, as it allows the device to connect and transmit signals to network towers. Qualcomm owns nearly 80 percent of the baseband market, and this hegemonic hold is exactly what the alliance hopes to break free from.

Docomo recently rolled out the first two tablets for its high speed LTE network, with offerings from the afore-mentioned Samsung and Fujitsu. The company has big plans for its Xi service which it claims is ten times faster than its FOMA 3G service.

We’ve reached out to Docomo for comment on the planned partnership, but have yet to receive a reply.

Quite often at events like this you’ll see models showing off the product and today was no exception. But to my surprise the lady holding the new Fujitsu Arrows Tab was clad in a fluffy white bathrobe. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that this wasn’t a case of undressing – but rather she was highlighting one of the main features of the Fujistu Tablet: it’s waterproof.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1	Fujitsu Arrows Tab

The device is powered by Android 3.2 and sports a dual core processor. It weighs in at 597 grams and has a profile of 11.3mm. It also features one-seg mobile TV, as well as hand-gesture control, which uses the camera as a means of letting you interface without actually touching. The company says in its announcement that this will come in handy for checking recipes while cooking when your hands might be dirty.

Built for Speed

Given that these two new tablets will be running atop Docomo’s high speed LTE network, it makes sense that it would roll out some four new broadband applications that can take advantage of that. The two most notable additions were Qik and Hulu. Qik of course, is a popular live-streaming video service. And Hulu, which recently opened an office in Japan, will now be available on both these tablets providing lots of great video entertainment for local users.

The folks from Hulu came over for the event

This morning in Tokyo, I dropped in on Sony’s press conference where it was showing off its upcoming pair of Android tablets. It was announced that the new tablets, which are both 3G and Wi-Fi capable, would run on the Docomo network. Previously referred to as the S1 and S2, the devices are dubbed the Tablet S and Tablet P.

The larger, more conventional model is the 9.4-inch Tablet S, which from the front looks like a regular tablet, but when viewed from the side it reveals a unique tapered profile. When trying it out, it did feel pretty nice in my hands allowing for a slightly more comfortable grip that other tablet alternatives.

The Tablet S’s little brother is a little freaky, attempting to nail down the dual-screen tablet concept (remember the Kyocera Echo?) with a 5.5-inch display. If the VAIO Type P died and came back in tablet form, this might be it. It’s equally pocketable, although I found that the size resulted in virtual keyboard that was just a little too small for two hands and a little too big for thumb typing. I thought I would like the on-screen gaming buttons on the smaller form factor, but oddly, I didn’t. It just felt icky…

Does Sony have a shot at being crowned the second best tablet behind the iPad? I don’t think they’re anywhere near Samsung’s Galaxy Tab yet. The Sony flavor of Android feels quite limited to me.

For more information on both devices, check out the full specifications below.

As of today Docomo is providing content from KT on its mobile portal, including 30 popular titles from South Korea. Among the titles offered so far are Computer Crisis, Mouse Hunter, Mini Piano and Voice Album. A few screen captures are provided below courtesy of Docomo. Likewise, KT is planning to offer 20 Docomo titles on its “olleh market” by the end of the year.

Docomo’s announcement explained that this is initiative is one of many being developed by a “joint-business committee that NTT Docomo, KT, and China Mobile formed in January.”

Docomo has been fairly busy this year enhancing its content offerings. We mentioned back in April that it had teamed up with gaming giant DeNA to link the Mobage gaming platform to its i-mode feature phone portal, as well as to the Docomo market portal for smarphones. And in May the company announced cooperation with Twitter on mobile content as well.

Voice Album	Mecca of Puchige
Mouse Hunter	Mini Piano
Abacus Master	Computer Crisis

Docomo

Who is VMG? We don’t write much about Vietnam, so we were wondering too. VMG is a mobile content platform provider, and a Docomo representative tells us that it serves up mobile applications, games, and music. It is also involved in billing and CRM.

Citing Asia Pacific Research Group, Docomo points out that the market size for mobile content in Vietnam was $470 million for the 2009 fiscal year, and that it could grow to a billion by 2014.

Over half of the country’s population is under 30, so that should be good news for all things mobile. Although it should be pointed out that ARPU (average revenue per user) is low in the telecom sector, and is reportedly still declining.

For NTT Docomo it means more business overseas, and with a 25 percent stake in VMG, it means that it can retain voting rights for important management decisions. It also represents yet another Japanese company exploring opportunities abroad, a trend that we’ve been reporting a lot on here over the past few months.

Japan’s CyberAgent Investment is also a 3 percent shareholder in VMG.

Much like the Salsa, the ChaCha also features one-touch Facebook access, something that should definitely appeal to the nation’s 25-million strong Facebook population. The dedicated Facebook button is ‘context-aware,’ providing the user with options to share in the proper situation (for example, after taking a photo). Powered by Android 2.3, the phone is an intriguing hybrid combining a full QWERTY keypad and a 2.6-inch touchscreen all in one.

Tata Docomo is providing three months of free data (up to three gigabytes) and three hours of mobile TV for its 3G customers. 2G customers will get three gigs of data and 300 Tata-to-Tata calling minutes valid for three months.

The ChaCha will be priced at Rs. 15,990 (or about $360) and will be available at HTC resellers nationwide. Check out the video below for a closer look.

[Tata Docomo]

Sharma: India to pass China in mobile subscribers in Q2 2012

Analyst Chetan Sharma has released his State of the Global Mobile Industry report, with a number of key insights regarding growth in India and China.

While China does have the biggest number of mobile subscribers, the US is still superior in revenue. In terms of ARPU (average revenue per user) Japan tops all nations, according to the report, driven by NTT Docomo, KDDI, and Softbank Japan, the top three global operators in mobile data ARPU.

We reported a few days ago about India’s growing mobile subscriber base, and how despite it’s recent momentum it still trails behind China. Sharma actually projects that India will pass China before Q2 2012 (see chart above), saying that the nation is adding mobile subscriptions at a faster rate as they both approach the one billion mark. But for India this does not necessarily mean that revenues will skyrocket as well, says Sharma:

While India has the highest subscriber growth rate in the world right now, the revenue generating opportunity remains down right anemic compared to other major markets with average dropping down to $3.50 in overall ARPU. Even with a significant subscriber base, there is going to be a general lack of opportunity in the market for the next couple of years relative to other markets.

Do check out the full report, as it’s jam-packed with a ton of information — not just on India and China, but on the mobile world as a whole. It’s available below via slideshare (best viewed in full-screen view using the button in the lower right), or you can visit Sharma’s blog and get it in pdf format.

State of the Global Mobile Industry

We hear from the folks at Interface Business Solutions, a digital advertising firm in India, that the microblog is working to make follower acquisition possible. Google, for example, is one of the brands which has embraced ads on the microblog.

A senior Twitter representative told Interface, “Currently my group is focused on working with the largest Fortune 1,000 brands globally. We also have a team who works to bring on qualified SMBs to our closed beta.”

Tata Docomo, first in India to use Twitter ads

Sabyasachi Mitter, the Managing Director at Interface told us that his team has been interacting with reps at Twitter to make this service available to Indian clients since January this year. Their effort seems to have paid off. Tata Docomo, a telcom service provider in India is believed to be the first major brand in India to employ the microblog’s advertising service.

“In April, Twitter introduced geo targeting and this made the proposition more attractive. Currently @tatadocomo has gained more than 5,000 followers in the last week compared to the two years it took to gain 16,000 followers. The client is extremely thrilled with the results and is looking forward to be a continuous advertiser on Twitter for some time to come.”

While placing ads and boosting followers count are important, @TataDocomo went back to basics to maintain engagement with followers by having a real person managing the microblog account. Tata Docomo also runs one of the more active Facebook pages in India with more than 2.7 million fans .

Today, we are excited to announce that Tweets will be integrated into various services on Yahoo! Japan, beginning with real-time search results (see: realtime.search.yahoo.co.jp). This partnership will allow Twitter content to reach even more users in Japan, one of our biggest international markets. [Note: Link and parenthesis mine]

This comes hot on the heels of last month’s announcement that Twitter had struck a similar deal with service provider NTT Docomo to integrate content into search results. That partnership will enable mobile users (for both smartphones and feature phones) to view the microblog’s content via built-in Docomo services.

According to comScore, Japan is one of the top five countries in the world for Twitter penetration, with 16.8% reach dwarfing the global average of 7.4%. This figure will likely increase even more as a result of these two partnerships. The increasing popularity of smartphones in Japan (including Apple’s iPhone) should also help Twitter reach a wider audience in the nation.

1. Urban Planning

First, analyzing spatial cell phone data in metropolitan areas can greatly help with future city planning. A Docomo representative tells us that the University of Tokyo had been conducting research in this field that would benefit greatly from Docomo’s mobile spatial stats. The company subsequently approached the University for a joint research project.

Docomo will be estimating the shift in population distribution over time in Kashiwa City, in Chiba Prefecture. Then the University of Tokyo researchers are to examine the relations between these shifts and suggest how the information could be used for better urban planning.

2. Earthquake Preparation

The second use case addresses a very serious problem that Tokyo residents saw on the night of the tragic March 11th earthquake. On that evening, thousands of commuters were stranded away from home after the city’s trains were stopped.

But Docomo says that by tracking the daily commute of people all over the city, we can approximate how many people would not be able to return home after an earthquake strikes. Kogakuin University is to analyze the data as well as the conditions in specific areas, and then identify any possible problems that might arise as a result.

Docomo says preparations could then be made by the metropolitan government so that it is ready for such a situation:

• We can see the size and number of the accommodation facilities available for disaster victims who have difficulties returning home.
• We can prepare support stations for the victims who have difficulties returning home and lay out optimum roads for that purpose.
• We can offer alternative routes or transportation for those who have difficulties returning home.

Privacy and Openness

For any individuals concerned about their movements being tracked, the company explains:

The mobile spatial statistics are aggregate data about mobile phone locations and user attributes. In our use of these statistics, individual users are never identified.

I’m not certain that this will put some of my neck-bearded, security friends at ease, but it sounds ok to me.

Having witnessed the benefits of open, accessible data (see Marian Steinbach’s seminal work) during the March earthquake, I asked Docomo if there were any plans to make its information open for the public to use and build upon. A representative explained:

We are willing to offer and make use of our operational data, if it’s for our society to grow further. But it is not yet something we will open to the public in a specific format. Rather we hope to improve, enhance, and increase the value of our statistics for the purpose how we can serve for society.

While I can’t foresee any possible danger to making such information open, that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. I don’t blame Docomo for being careful with this data for now. In any case, its good to see large corporations engaged in research for civic good. For more information, see Docomo’s web page about the project (sorry, it’s in Japanese only).

So far in Japan, I think Google and its repertoire of services has provided the most help from an information standpoint. Hopefully even more IT companies will get on board and offer their resources in the future.

Courtesy of NTT Docomo

At Wireless Expo 2011 Docomo was showcasing its Mobile Simultaneous Translation System. The demonstration that I saw processed spoken Japanese input, then transcribed it into Japanese text, and then translated that into English text. But it can do English-to-Japanese as well.

You see the process happening on the screen of your mobile device, and while it does appear a little slow the results seem impressive. Docomo tells me that all the processing takes place on its network, rather than locally on the device. See the video below for a quick video walkthrough of how it works.

Of course there are other live translation apps already available, but it’s good to see even more parties working to solve an important problem.

Docomo's LTE-Advanced demo

Japanese mobile provider NTT Docomo was in attendance at Wireless Expo 2011 presenting its LTE-Advanced technology, which (as you might guess) is an advanced version of LTE.

According to Docomo, this system enhances performance a peak data rate of more than one gigabit per second using a bandwidth of 100 MHz. At Wireless Expo, Docomo exhibited LTE-Advanced data transmission with a base station and mobile station on site to power a 3D video filming demonstration.

While the LTE-Advanced system was the featured attraction, this 3D filming demo was also impressive as it implemented twin camera that each shoot 360 degrees, as well as on a vertical axis. The intention here was ostensibly to simulate human vision. The panoramic images were transferred wirelessly in real time over LTE-Advanced, and shown to visitors who could view wearing 3D glasses.

NTT Docomo

This afternoon Docomo held a press conference to show off its new lineup of mobile phones for this summer season.

This time the Docomo repertoire includes nine smartphones, “the largest and most diverse collection of smartphones” the company has ever released.

To mark the occasion actor Ken Watanabe was on hand, as well as actress Maki Horikita (pictured right), both of whom star in Docomo commercials.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the standouts from Docomo’s summer line-up.

Docomo President Yamada

Docomo phone models holding various docomo phone models

The lineup includes a few world-firsts and various other superlatives. Most notable among them is the Sharp 3D Aquos SH-12C, one of the first mobile phones capable of capturing 3D video via its twin 8.0-megapixel cameras. The SH-12C is scheduled to launch on May 20.

Sharp 3D Aquos SH-12C

Sharp 3D Aquos SH-12C

Another Sharp model in the lineup is the AQUOS Phone f SH-13C, which Docomo says is the world’s first smartphone capable of wireless charging thanks to an accompanying charging pad. This handset is scheduled for a July or August release.

Sharp AQUOS Phone f SH-13C

The Sony Ericsson Xperia acro SO-02C comes with mobile-wallet functions as well as one-seg TV.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Acro

Sony Ericsson Xperia Acro

The ultra-thin Optimus bright L-07C is pegged as having the world’s brightest display, housed inside a slender 9.5mm thin body. Weighing in at a paltry 112 grams, this little number drops in mid June.

Optimus bright L-07C

Samsung’s Galaxy S II is another big name among the new handsets, a sporting hefty 1.2 GHz dual core processor as well as a 4.3-inch SUPER AMOLED display.

Samsung Galaxy S II

Another notable include the NEC MEDIAS WP N-06C, a waterproof model which Docomo says has the first 7.9-mm body.

NEC MEDIAS WP N-06C

Twitter content will be integrated into search results on Docomo’s i-mode portal on feature phones, and in the Docomo Market for smartphones. This will include a new ‘Real-time Tweet’ service which is on the way sometime this year.

When I spoke to Docomo this afternoon, a representative told me that Twitter is an especially fitting service for mobile phones (Twitter, of course, has its origins in mobile SNS). The spokesperson explained that while “Twitter has a client application for smartphones already, they don’t have [one] for feature phones.” She added “We will launch a client application for feature phones sometimes this summer.”

According to information from comScore last June, Japan ranked in the top five nations for Twitter penetration at 16.8%, and this doesn’t even include mobile access! Japan clearly loves Twitter, and Docomo is wise to try to capitalize on this.

As for smartphones , the agreement also links Mobage to the ‘docomo’ market portal, and selected Docomo handsets will include a preinstalled Mobage application moving forward.

Docomo’s announcement also explains that the two companies intend to promote Mobage to operators and game developers in overseas markets. It was just last year that DeNA purchased American social gaming developer Ngmoco and announced intentions to launch a global mobile social gaming network in April.

But DeNA isn’t the only Japanese company that has been busy in the mobile gaming spare. This Docomo/DeNA partnership caps off what has been frenzied month in Japan’s social gaming space. Earlier this month we reported that GREE had partnered with mobile social network mig33 to expand into developing markets. And just recently the company announced a $100 million acquisition of the Open Feint social platform.

Similarly traditional gaming companies in Japan like Capcom and Sega have announced plans to move into the social gaming space as well.

Now before environmentalists get all upset about using wood to create cell phones, it should be pointed out that the Touch Wood was “made with surplus cypress wood from trees culled during thinning operations carried out to maintain healthy forests.” According to DOCOMO, it’s made with a special compression technology that improves the wood’s durability and resistance to water and mildew. Each handset has a unique grain pattern as well.

For a look at the stunning promo ad, check out the YouTube video below. As I write this, it’s just sneaking up on one million views.

The Touch Wood isn’t for everybody though, and we certainly understand if many iPhone lovers don’t want to change handset. Thankfully Japanese woodworker Hacoa, the company who brought us the clever Ki-Board (pdf), has created a beautiful wooden case for the iPhone 4.

iPad users looking to get their wood-on (I can say that, right?) might check out this DIY wooden iPad case (hat tip to my friends at TUAW) or this case by Sasaki Kogei.

The additional investment is part of DOCOMO’s long-term strategy to expand its business presence and revenue sources in India’s rapidly growing mobile market.

DOCOMO will invest approximately US$175.6 million based on its current 26% stake in TTSL. The first investment has been made so far, and the rest will be completed in May. TTSL will use the fund to expand coverage and strengthen the quality of its 3G network.

So far so good: DOCOMO’s collaboration with TTSL has scored a number of victories to date. After TTSL branded its GSM-based 2G service as TATA DOCOMO in June 2009, subscriptions have swelled to 86.1 million by January 2011. DOCOMO has also provided TTSL with its expertise on networks, value-added services and marketing. The result includes the introduction of the i-channel™ news ticker and DOCOMICS™ mobile manga service which are the first of its kind in India.

“Docomo Japan has helped TTSL a lot. Tata Docomo is picking up with its broad offerings. It has a very customer-friendly service,” Sahil Shah, Penn Olson’s India-based writer shared with us.

NTT DOCOMO, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is one of the dominant mobile phone operators in Japan.

DOCOMO