KDDI Corporation (TYO:9433) has just announced that it will be solidifying its partnership with Japanese app publisher 3rdKind by way of funding though its Open Innovation Fund. The funding amount was not disclosed.

The intent is to help 3rdKind further grow and “expand its Asian publishing business” with the goal of being the leading publisher in the region.

KDDI points out that since its publishing partnership with 3rdKind (which covers iOS, Android, and KDDI’s auSmartPass) was established last summer, many overseas games have been delivered to the Japanese market as a result. One of the major successes has been the social game Happy Street, as well as iBlastMoki, Stardunk, and Cross Finger.

KDDI’s five billion yen ($57 million) Open Innovation fund was established about a year ago and is managed by Global Brain Corporation. It has previously funded a number of startups, including Giftee.

3rdKind also works with NTT Docomo, as we noted last year.

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.

Japanese carrier KDDI (TYO:9433) has announced the launch date for its much anticipated HTC J Butterfly. The handset will go on sale in Japan this Sunday, December 9. This is the flagship model among KDDI’s winter lineup of Android phones, which we had a look at back in October. The HTC J Butterly will, like the rest of that lineup, be compatible with the carrier’s 4G LTE service.

The J Butterly – also known as the Droid DNA in the US – will feature a very large 5-inch, 440ppi super LCD 3 display, and will run on Android 4.1. It also will be NFC-capable, and include mobile wallet functions, as well as one-seg video. It will be available in black, white, and red.

For Taiwanese manufacturer HTC (TPE:2498), a lot is riding on the hopes of this model, as well as the Windows Phone 8 handsets that it has rolling out around asia. The company’s revenue has been sliding off a cliff in recent quarters, and HTC has a daunting task ahead if it hopes to turn things around.

Check out KDDI’s promo video for the handset below, which highlights many of the phones features. You can learn more about the HTC J Butterfly over on the KDDI website (Japanese).

Kyodo is reporting that Japanese carriers Softbank (TSE:9984) and KDDI (TYO:9433) say they will launch Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iPad Mini with cellular connectivity one week from today, on Friday, November 30th. The wi-fi only model previously launched in Apple stores back on November 2nd in Japan.

Softbank and KDDI will also start selling the fourth generation iPad on Friday.

Both companies had a good month in October, especially KDDI which added a net of 152,700 subscribers. In comparison, Softbank managed to add a net of 37,900 subscribers. Both carriers offer the iPhone 5, and have reportedly lured a number of new customers from NTT Docomo which saw a loss of 189,800 subscribers in October.

Docomo is still, by far, the market leader with over 60 million total subscribers.

KDDI (TYO:9433) unveiled its winter mobile line up this afternoon in Tokyo, with a number of new Android devices stepping into the spotlight. All 10 devices (nine smartphones and a tablet) on display are compatible with the carrier’s 4G LTE service.

Here’s a quick rundown of the new line up, and a brief overview of their specs.

• HTC J Butterfly
• Sony Xperia VL
• Samsung Galaxy S III Progre
• Sharp Aquos Phone Serie
• Fujitsu Arrows ef
• LG Optimus G
• Pantech Vega [1]
• Casio G’zOne Type L
• Kyocera Digno S
• Sharp Aquos Pad

HTC J Butterfly

The headliner of KDDI’s event was the HTC J Butterfly, running on Android 4.1 with a quad core processor. It boasts a 5-inch, 440ppi, super LDC 3 display, and with Beats Audio built in that makes it a pretty impressive mobile media device. The Butterfly will have 2GB of RAM and 16 GB of onboard storage, and feature NFC, mobile wallet functions, and one-seg video. It will be available in Japan in December.

Sony Xperia VL

• Android 4.0
• 4.3 inch HD TFT display
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 GB of onboard storage
• weight: 120 grams
• NFC, Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

Samsung Galaxy S III Progre

• Android 4.0
• 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display
• 2 GB of RAM
• 32 GB of onboard storage
• weight 141 grams
• Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

Sharp Aquos Phone Serie

• Android 4.0
• 4.7 inch HD S-CG Silicon display
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 GB of onboard storage
• weight: 148 grams
• NFC, Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

Fujitsu Arrows ef

• Android 4.0
• 4.3 inch HD TFT display
• 1 GB of RAM
• 8 GB of onboard storage
• weight: 139 grams
• NFC, Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

LG Optimus G

• Android 4.0
• 4.7 inch HD IPS display
• 2 GB of RAM
• 16 GB of onboard storage
• weight: 143 grams
• NFC, Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

Kyocera Digno S

• Android 4.0
• 4.7 inch HD TFT display
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 GB of onboard storage
• weight: 157 grams
• NFC, Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

Pantech Vega

• Android 4.0
• 4.3 inch HD TFT display
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 GB of onboard storage
• weight: 134 grams
• NFC, Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

Casio G’zOne Type L

• Android 4.0
• 4.0 inch WVGA IPS display
• 1 GB of RAM
• 8 GB of ROM
• weight: 181 grams
• Mobile wallet, One seg
• Coming in November

Sharp Aquos Pad

• Android 4.0
• 7 inch WXGA IGZO display
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 GB of onboard storage
• weight: 280 grams
• NFC, One seg
• Coming in December

Au store in Ibaraki, Osaka. Photo: sponichi.co.jp

The Wall Street Journal and Japan’s Nikkei are reporting that thieves were the first to get their hands on Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iPhone in Japan, just hours before it officially launched in the country.

In Osaka city, a series of robberies resulted in 191 iPhones stolen:

• 33 iPhone 5s were stolen from an Au store in Ibaraki city, Osaka.
• 116 iPhone 5s were stolen from a Softbank store in Western Osaka (4:24am).
• 42 iPhones were stolen from a nearby Au store (2:30am).

Total value? 7.45 million yen, or about $95,000 worth of iPhones. The reports state that it isn’t certain that these robberies are connected, but I expect they almost certainly are.

Aside from that hiccup, it looks like the iPhone 5 has been warmly received in Japan, with about 750 people queuing this morning at the Ginza Apple store in Tokyo.

There’s an interesting piece from Kyoto news today about how many Japanese companies are increasingly moving headquarters or operations to Singapore. With a more favorable tax rate, Singapore is, so far, the preferred outpost for many Japanese companies looking to expand beyond domestic borders.

This is a phenomenon that we have written about many times in the past with the number of big name internet companies setting up shop in Singapore over the past few years.

Perhaps most notable is the Crosscoop facility on Robinson Road, apparently the default landing ground for Japanese companies in Singapore, which hosts DeNA [1], GREE, Recruit, and @Freaks. KDDI’s advertising unit Mediba is one of the latest companies to set up shop there in October of last year. It also hosts startups as well, which is a big attraction given that Singapore is such a friendly place for entrepreneurs.

Back in May of this year, advertising giant also Dentsu announced the opening of a Singapore office with the goal of expanding into Southeast Asia’s mobile advertising markets.

Kyodo cites SMU’s Toru Yoshikawa who explains some of the advantages of being in Singapore:

Japanese companies want to globalize their operations by hiring staff with diverse cultural backgrounds, and while Japan may have highly competent engineers and managers, they don’t have much experience operating in multicultural environments, so Singapore is an ideal location because they can hire English-speaking staff.

As nearby Southeast Asian markets continue to grow, we can expect to see more companies take advantage of Singapore’s unique geographical and cultural position.

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]

Japan’s 3rdKind Inc. has just announced a new partnership with London-based games and apps developer AMA Ltd (Advanced Mobile Applications) that will bring the latter’s Android apps to Japan via NTT Docomo (NYSE:DCM) and KDDI’s (TYO:9433) ‘au Smart Pass’ service. 3rdKind helps foreign companies with localization, marketing, and development for the Japanese market.

This latest news comes in the wake of 3rdKind’s partnership with KDDI a few weeks back for publishing foreign smartphone applications on au Smart Pass.

That service uses an intriguing subscription model which sees users pay a monthly fee of 390 yen (almost $5) for access to a selection of over 500 apps which the carrier has selected.

A representative from 3rdKind says that we can expect these sort of announcements to continue as it helps more developers publish in the Japanese market, not just for au Smart Pass but also for the Apple App store, Google Play, and Docomo’s dmarket.

MoboTap, the makers of the popular Dolphin Browser for iOS and Android, has announced a partnership with Japanese carrier KDDI (TYO:9433) in which Dolphin will be pre-loaded on future Android phones. KDDI just unrolled a new lineup of handsets yesterday, and according to the folks over TechCrunch, some of those phones will come with Dolphin pre-loaded.

The browser first debuted as a featured app in KDDI’s app store last month, and since then MoboTap says it has seen more than 20,000 downloads. This new agreement should give Dolphin a strong foothold [1] in Japan, as KDDI is the nations second largest carrier with about 35 million subscribers.

KDDI’s senior vice president Makoto Takahashi commented on bringing Dolphin aboard the carrier’s phones:

Dolphin’s success piqued our attention and they were a clear choice as our pre-loaded browser. […] We are excited about this partnership which will bring Dolphin’s impressive portfolio of unique browsing experiences to our subscribers. We are looking forward to a deeper relationship for the next era.

According to figures cited in its announcement, MoboTap’s Dolphin Browser has over 16 million total downloads globally. As I understand it, Mobotap is an international team with bases in the US and China. It was established in March 2010, and the company’s founder and CEO is Yongzhi Yang. I’ve been in contact with them this morning, and hope to bring you some updated figures on how Dolphin is doing in Asia soon.

If you’d like to try Dolphin for yourself, you can get download it for iOS or Android.

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.

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.

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.

Photo: ciaociao on Flickr

Japan’s KDDI Corporation recently announced a new investment fund worth 5 billion yen (or about $66 million), which will target upcoming startup companies in Japan, Asia, and the US, primarily in the mobile space.

The fund will be managed by Japanese venture capital firm Global Brain, which has worked with domestic ISP and portal site Nifty, developing opportunities and partnerships for its portfolio ventures. The firm tells PO that it sees Singapore as a natural center for future activity around Asia, and in fact, it has already partnered with NUS Entrepreneurship Center. A Global Brain representative explains to us this evening:

Currently, we are looking for startups with proven services or technologies in smart phone related sectors. This doesn’t mean that we only see apps ventures, but also ventures which can create eco-systems with KDDI in a broad sense. We see opportunities in U.S., Singapore, China, Korea, and Taiwan at the moment. We have already talked with some ventures in these countries. But we understand that good ventures have been born in other regions like India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

When we got in touch with KDDI (TYO:9433) this past week, and a representative told us that the fund is not directly related to its incubation program Mugen Labo, which assists companies trying to launch new apps. But KDDI notes that there are possibilities that companies in Mugen Labo could potentially be invested in through this new fund, explaining that they are quite open to anyone.

With that in mind, if you are a young up-and-coming startup, Global Brain is accepting applications via its website right now.

On a related note, J-Seed Ventures announced today a new startup incubator in Tokyo called Venture Generation. They are also accepting applications.

Photo: ciaociao on Flick

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.

Japanese mobile carrier KDDI (TYO:9433) has announced that it will establish a data center in Sendai, one of the areas hit the hardest by the earthquake and tsunami this past March.

The center will be for managing mobile customer data, and will see up to 700 residents hired — good news for the city where employment is a major problem as the Sendai is still in the middle of rebuilding after the disaster. KDDI’s chairman Tadashi Onodera explained:

We need to set up the center to deal with a growing number of subscriptions for tablets such as smartphones… Considering the issue of employment, we have determined Sendai would be the best place.

It’s good to see technology companies getting involved with the recovery effort. Earlier this year we saw Amazon announce a call center in Sendai. That’s expected to open in the spring of 2012 and will bring about 1000 jobs to the area. Hopefully we can see more companies do the same, and the sooner the better.

The March earthquake was one of the biggest stories of the past year, although it has been gradually replaced in the news cycle by other things. That doesn’t mean that the recovery effort doesn’t need help though, so if you’d like to pitch in, there are still many ways to give this holiday season.

[Source: The Japan Times, Image from The Sanyo Shimbun]

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.

A couple of months back we told you about how Japan’s Mediba Inc was branching out to establish a Singapore office to help its expanding mobile advertising business in the Asia region. And today we received word that the company is to cooperate with Australian mobile advertising company Leadbolt.

The partnership is aimed at improving each company’s ad business according to the announcement:

Through this collaboration, advertising sponsors who place advertisements on the “mediba ad powered by AdMaker” can expect increased advertising effectiveness and the ability to significantly expand their exposure not only in Japan, but also abroad as well. In addition, site operators who join “mediba ad powered by AdMaker” will be able to post LeadBolt’s global ad plan into their sites.

Mediba also noted that it will continue to seek partnerships with other ad network operators both in Japan and abroad, specifically focusing on the growing smartphone market in the Asia region. The company previously stated that it was considering branches in Korea, China, Indonesia, and India. The company is perhaps best know for its work on KDDI’s (TYO:9433) ‘au one’ portal site, as the Japanese carrier is Mediba’s majority shareholder.

As for Leadbolt, you can learn more about the company in their introductory video below.

Photo: Impress.co.jp

Today Japan’s second largest telecom, KDDI (34 million subscribers), announced its strategic partnership with French Augmented Realityleader, Total Immersion.

Beginning immediately KDDI (TYO:9433) is opening up its “SATCH” SDK, a kit intended for developing advanced mobile augmented reality experiences. The SDK is based on Total Immersion’s D’Fusion technology and boasts features such as image recognition and markerless tracking, including face tracking.

Already the telecom has developed content for several major brands like Suntory and Glico. The SDK will be further be available for free to 3,000 content providers in total.

Currently the technical documentation online is only partially available in Japanese. API details and the authoring guide remain in English. This will slow initial adoption until KDDI can release a full SDK translation.

Followers of KDDI’s strategic partnerships may be wondering what this means for the telecom’s other AR partner, Tonchidot and its Sekai Camera application. In KDDI’s formal press releases there was no mention of its other partnership.

It may at first seem to be a conflict of interest for Tonchidot to have KDDI promoting another AR SDK. However, a macro assessment of Sekai Camera’s approach to AR and the SATCH SDK quickly reveals major strategic differences which may allow the two technologies to coexist under KDDI’s roof. Namely, Sekai Camera exists as an app with a relatively easy to implement SDK explicitly intended for content presentation within the Sekai Camera app. The SATCH SDK is app agnostic and, while can be more technically involved, is far more capable. As a result, the two technologies serve mostly different purposes.

See the below demo reel to glimpse samples of what content providers can build with the SATCH SDK.

[via KDDI, photo from Impress.co.jp]

We’ve been keeping tabs on CoolIris’s LiveShare photo sharing app for web and mobile, and we’re happy to hear today that its first international version has been launched in Japan. Android users in that country can now enjoy a localized Japanese language version of LiveShare, which can be downloaded from the Android Market.

We took a closer look at LiveShare earlier this year, and no doubt many of you will recognize the slick 3D wall photo display, as it got quite a bit of attention when it first went online (I believe it was called Piclens back then). Since then it has morphed to create a kind of social photo pool that multiple people can contribute towards. For example, photo collections could center around trips between friends, a concert, or a wedding.

I’ve used it on my own personal site, though that Drupal solution is a bit dated, and not as slick as the HTML5 web display on LiveShare.com (see demo video at the bottom)

CoolIris has partnered with mobile carrier KDDI (TYO:9433) in Japan to make a LiveShare shortcut available on some of their upcoming devices, which then directs to the KDDI market where users can install the LiveShare app if they choose. So if you’re on an Android handset, give Liveshare a go, and see what kinds of fun photo streams you can create with your friends! For iPhone users, you can check out the iOS app if you haven’t tried it already.

The continuing competition between GREE (TYO:3632) and DeNA (TYO:2432) is getting even more interesting, as we just received a note that GREE, together with KDDI, has sued DeNA for pressuring game developers to keep them from building games on GREE’s platform. You may recall that a cease and desist order was issued to DeNA back in June about this issue by the Japan Fair Trade Commission.

KDDI (TYO:9433), who operates “au one GREE” has made the decision to become a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit to support GREE’s fair competition complaint.

GREE said that despite DeNA’s claims to the contrary in December of last year, its competitor still continued to “disturb” mobile game developers who provided games for GREE. GREE says that this has obstructed its business. The announcement stated:

These illegal acts have not only hampered our business but have had a negative impact on other elements of the internet industry such as social game developers and telephone carriers. Considering that this is still impacting many companies, we feel that this is a major barrier to ensuring a fair, competitive business environment.

In the note, it was also revealed that together, GREE and KDDI are claiming 1 billion yen in damages. GREE wants 900 million yen, KDDI 105 million yen.

While DeNA’s actions were said to have affected GREE’s business, and the latter expects that the lawsuit will have minimal impact on its business performance, which — to be honest — seems like a contradicting statement.

Anyway, as this fight between Japan’s mobile social gaming giants goes on, it’s still business as usual for the little guys, i.e. the mobile game developers. Your virtual flowers and swords will still sell like hot cakes on GREE and Mobage. In the meantime, we’ve reached out to DeNA reps to see if they have any comment or official statement, though we’d be surprised if there is any official word on this before tomorrow, if at all.

Update: DeNA has issued an official statement in Japanese, from which they also offer this ‘unofficial’ English translation:

It has been reported that GREE, Inc. and KDDI Corporation have filed a lawsuit against DeNA Co., Ltd. regarding claims that DeNA violated Japan’s antitrust law. No contact had been made by the two companies to DeNA regarding the reported matter until today.

Since DeNA has not received the official statement of complaint, it is unable to confirm its content at this moment. The two companies issued a press release that reads as if DeNA has been violating the antitrust law, but there is no such fact.

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.

Surely Softbank will feel the pinch as Apple fans now have more options in getting an iPhone. This reminded me of a similar situation here in Singapore a couple of years ago where SingTel was the only exclusive carrier that offered the iPhone.

And back then I was a Starhub user which forced me to pay premium to terminate my previous plan and jump ship to SingTel (sorry Starhub). Did I have any choice back then? Not really. But I’m glad that now Starhub and M1 also offer the iPhone now. To consumers, it’s a big, big relief. So I can imagine how KDDI’s subscribers are feeling now – it’s pretty awesome.

Sharp's 3D Phone

CEATEC Japan 2011, Japan’s annual IT and electronics trade show, isn’t until next week but many companies are already teasing what they will bringing to the show. While Penn-Olson will be there bringing coverage from the floor, a few early mobile hardware announcements have already piqued my interest.

There are no doubt some great smartphone handset manufacturers from outside Japan. Samsung and HTC continue to produce popular phones with big, beautiful screens and fast processors. But when it comes to risky hardware innovation, the sort that may be too wacky to be useful or just may change the world, I always look to Japan.

Japan is the home of many mobile firsts, either in development or commercial deployment. While the jury is still out on some of this technology, smartphone innovations include 3D screens, 3D cameras, waterproof handsets, wireless charging, 1seg (mobile terrestrial audio/video), and Mobile FeliCa (similar to NFC for contactless payments etc.).

NTT Docomo's Sensor Case

At CEATEC next week a few more mobile firsts will be debuted. As already reported, NTT Docomo will show off a series of smartphone cases with the ability to measure things like radiation and body fat. Docomo rival, KDDI, and handset manufacturer Kyocera have teamed up to develop an entirely different technology.

The two companies have come up with an advanced speaker system which may change the way people take phone calls. Compared to current phones which blast sound directly into the listener’s ear this new technology will allow phones to automatically adjust the method of noise projection based on the listener’s condition. For example, if the user has ear plugs in, such as a construction worker, the phone can detect the ear canal blockage and direct sound more directly through a subtle vibration of the ear itself. This would effectively allow the phone to be used while wearing earplugs. KDDI has also stated phone use over top of headphones as another use case.

KDDI and Kyocera's New Speaker Technology

Consumer implementation of the advanced speaker system is expected for fiscal 2012. Currently the necessary hardware requires less than 0.6mm of space. This is small enough to fit in most any smartphone, although I expect it will debut in a Kyocera handset first. The trade show will be the public’s first hands on with the technology and the manufacturers will no doubt be gauging consumer interest.

CEATEC Japan 2011 runs from October 4-8 at the Makuhari Messe. Visit the trade show homepage for more details and stay tuned to Penn-Olson for updates throughout the week.

[Images: Engadget, Asahi, KDDI]

Thanks to a late night tweet from Serkan Toto for pointing out a Nikkei report claiming the iPhone 5 will be sold by KDDI later this year. If the report proves true, KDDI would be the second carrier to carry Apple’s coveted iPhone in Japan after Softbank, which has enjoyed an exclusive deal since 2008.

While the most recent rumors put the U.S. arrival of the iPhone 5 at October 4, the Nikkei report – quoting ‘officials ’ – says that the handset would start selling in KDDI/au shops in November early 2012.

As with AT&T’s early monopoly on Apple’s iPhone in the U.S. before it finally jumped to Verizon this year, many users in Japan will be happy to switch over to KDDI/au once there’s another carrier option. The nation’s biggest carrier, of course, is still NTT Docomo.

Softbank has been gaining on second place au thanks to strong sales of the iPhone 4 (see below). It will be interesting to see how the iPhone 5 affects the mobile wars in Japan.

From Nikkei Business (English annotations ours)

Network overload due to smartphone data consumption is a problem many countries are facing. In mid 2010 AT&T buckled under extreme data usage and eventually had to eliminate its flat rate data plan. Instead of an all-you-can-use plan AT&T shifted to a tiered system charging users based on their consumption. Just a few months ago in June, Verizon came to the same decision and killed off its unlimited data plan.

No carrier in Japan wants to be the first to eliminate the flat rate data plan. Doing so translate to a rate hike for many users. Whichever carrier suspends its unlimited data plan first will be vulnerable to losing customers. This is even more true today as carriers have begun unlocking phones, an act which allows smartphone users to take their phones to another carrier. Instead of doing away with the flat rate plan Japan’s carriers are taking a different approach.

Japan already leads the world in data ARPU

This week KDDI announced it will begin limiting data throughput speeds of smartphone users exceeding a data cap. This is an effort to combat an overall network slowing due to a handful of heavy data consumers (see Japanese press release). Beginning in October, smartphone users under KDDI that exceed three million packets (approx. 366MB) of data transfer during three consecutive days will have their data speeds limited on the fourth day. The speed limitations apply for 24 hours and are only expected to affect the top 3-4 percent of data consumers. NTT Docomo, Japan’s largest carrier (58.6 million subscribers) already has a near-identical system in place to combat overextending its network.

In addition to slowing subscribers that exceed data caps, carriers are being proactive in unloading smartphone users elsewhere. Instead of burdening cellular networks, the carriers are expanding Wi-Fi hotspots. KDDI aims to have 100,000 spots up and running by April 2012. LTE services are also being fast-tracked to handle the overload. NTT Docomo is adjusting its budget to allocate more money towards the expansion of its Xi network. Docomo also has four smartphones in the pipeline that can make use of this network.

By focusing efforts on future technologies, subscribers stand to benefit in the long term. However, in the near future this speed capping solution is just a band-aid on an ever-worsening wound. Whether the carriers can keep the networks up to speed long enough for their efforts to pay off is yet to be seen. Either way the balancing may act as a helpful experiment for nations facing this problem in the future.

[Photo credits: topics.or.jp, journal.mycom.co.jp]

On Friday, KDDI’s Mugen Labo, a start-up incubation program by Japan’s second largest telco, announced five tech start-ups chosen for its first incubation period. During the next three months, the program will provide management advisory, a development environment, and also help them spread their respective services throughout the country.

After their further development, apps or services gaining high evaluations will be published on the telco’s local Android app market, au one Market.

Services/apps chosen to participate in the program are:

1. Synclunch by Makoto Fukuyama, an ex-Googler.

• In development
• Arrange “power lunch” appointments with someone by using your Facebook social graph.

2. Rearge by Kenta Nakahira, Galapagos

• In development
• A customizable social game for the Android in which you can be the star.

3. Qlippy by Yoichi Shirakata, Spinning Works

• A web-based platform for sharing comments among the same e-publication readers.
• Also an alumni of Digital Garage’s incubation program Open Network Lab.
• See video below.

4. Giftee by Mutsumi Ota

• Giftee allows you to send a “REAL” gift to someone in return for their nice tweets or messages.
• Also an alumni of Digital Garage’s incubation program Open Network Lab. We covered this last April.

5. A location-based social network for store owners to accelerate their business, by Yuichi Kyoho, Real Samurai

• In development
• A LBS for sharing updates with retail stores and their customers.

About KDDI Mugen Labo

Inside the labo’s office in Roppongi, Tokyo

KDDI Mugen Labo was launched three months ago, as the first attempt in this-kind program by Japanese telecom companies. (There’s no SingTel’s Innov8-like program in Japan.) The program basically provides no financial support or investment but focuses on back up the start-up’s efforts for service spread-out and business development. We’ll keep our eye on their future growth.

Prior to this fundraising, Nobot succeeded in raising 140 million yen from several VC firms last fall. By acquiring the start-up, KDDI is expected to take second place in smartphone ad distribution in Japan earning three billion impressions a month, following behind Google’s AdMob which holds the top spot.

As we write this Nobot sent us along its press release, in which it mentions a plan to launch an office in Singapore by the end of this year. The company also expects to expand its service to Asian countries including Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Readers may recall our interview with Kiyotaka Kobayashi, the CEO of Nobot Inc., when he visited Singapore a couple of weeks ago. He explained about the company’s mobile advertising network AdMaker, which is currently serving up 2.1 billion monthly impressions.

Last month Japan’s second largest carrier, KDDI (30 million subscribers), took a 5 percent stake in Colopl (short for ‘Colony Plus’ and pronounced ‘co-ro-pu-ra’), Japan’s booming location-based social gaming platform. The 5 percent translates to approximately $6.2 million in funding and a $125 million valuation.

The news received a fair amount of attention in Japan but barely made a blip overseas. This is just the way Colopl seems to want it. Unlike other social games, Colopl games go far beyond virtual items as a source of revenue. The company is tapping into a unique business model and wants to keep it their little secret.

While Colopl is just shy of announcing two million registered users they reportedly have $1.5 million in monthly revenue and log 2.5 billion page views a month. That translates to an ARPU of $0.84 and an average 1,250 page views per users a month.

It is time the rest of the world took a closer look at Colopl’s unique gameplay and business model.

Location Based Gaming

Rather than using the player’s location to log a visit to a store or serve up local information, Colopl awards virtual currency based on the real-world distance between two check-ins. Traveling 25km between check-ins generates 25 Pura (the in-game currency) for use when buying in-game items. The more a player travels the more they earn and the better their gaming experience is.

Checking-in is also incorporated into gameplay during critical moments. Periodically the player’s colony is threatened by a meteor attack. By traveling one kilometer and checking-in the player is able to avoid damage to their colony.

Although not essential to building a colony, checking-in to select areas around Japan allows players to redeem virtual souvenirs and collect location stamps. There are 748 location stamps and nearly the same amount of virtual souvenirs. Enthusiastic Colopl players plan weekends and vacations to collect these virtual items.

Tourism Tie-ins

To date there are over 100 souvenir merchants, a few in each prefecture, that participate in Colopl tie-ins. Colopl promotes the merchant’s souvenirs in their game and on their website. In turn the merchants give out Colopl-branded collectible cards (called ColoCa) with every purchase over a certain amount. These cards come with a serial number on the back which players can input into their game to redeem exclusive virtual souvenirs and other in-game goods.

Several tourism agencies, the largest being Jalan, have also teamed up with Colopl. The agencies host Colopl branded tours around various destinations in Japan. Users are able to check-in to multiple key spots for getting virtual collectibles and visit sponsored merchants. In the case of Jalan, the travel search site promotes over 500 hotels that users can reserve to receive a ColoCa.

The last major tourism related revenue stream comes from an assortment of transportation agencies. Multiple train, subway, bus and ferry companies have teamed up with Colopl to offer ColoCas with promotional events. The Tokyo Metro, for instance, had a six-month promotion where they offered a ColoCa with the purchase of a special one-day metro pass.

Colopl has refused to comment on the specifics of these tie-ups but it appears that the companies, the souvenir merchants specifically, have revenue share deals with Colopl. This assumption is supported by fluctuating monthly revenue which peaks during key travel periods. The ColoCa’s serialized redemption process likely acts as the method for tracking sold merchandise from partners.

Next Steps

In recent months Colopl has released several additional games that use their check-in mechanic. Each game utilizes the check-in a slightly different way. For example, one requires the user to move in a particular direction to solve a puzzle. The platform is open to outside development now but access is granted selectively and publishing an application is tightly controlled.

One also might expect Colopl to expand internationally. The business model is certainly unique and ripe for imitation. However, its success may be directly related to the specifics of Japan’s tourism culture and replication without modification will likely fall flat in other countries. For the time being Colopl has plenty of room to grow in Japan and seems to be content with its domestic-only path.

This September KDDI will begin selling the Mi-Look, a mobile phone created by manufacturer Kyocera, which aims to help people in Japan take care of elderly family members.

The Mi-Look handset features speakerphone capabilities and large, simple buttons that should be easy to understand, even for older people not accustomed to technology. It is unique in that it sends information to an off-site caretaker. The device has pedometer and GPS functions as well, capable of sending data to the caretaker over email. It also comes with a cradle mount, complete with a ‘human presence sensor’ that can also send data about the person’s movement.

One of the most interesting functions is an emergency strap near the bottom, which when pulled will trigger a buzzer sound as well as an email alert to the caretaker. For more details about the Mi-Look, check out the video below.

The problem of Japan’s aging population is no secret, but it is giving rise to some interesting ideas about how to best care for seniors. Japanese companies also need to adjust to an aging consumer market, so solving such problems should help them compete in the marketplace as well.

Kyocera is known for designing unconventional handsets. You may remember back in May when we got a look at the company’s dual-screen Echo handset that switches to ‘tablet mode’ when it’s expanded.

[KDDI via Techon]

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

With one of the most unique Android interfaces to date, KDDI’s iida Infobar handset is a pretty attractive smartphone option in Japan. While the body design doesn’t impress me too much, the gorgeous user interface is the feature that’s getting a whole lot of attention. And now KDDI has a web simulator that allows anyone to give it a test drive, whether you’re in Japan or not.

Designed by master web designer Yugo Nakamura, the Infobar’s tiled interface is very slick — although many have pointed out the resemblance to Windows Phone’s new look.

Drop over to the iiDa UI Virtual Touch simulator if you’d like to try the interface for yourself. I should point out that the simulator is made with Flash, so if you’re hoping to try it from an iPhone or iPad, you’re out of luck.

Alternatively Diginfo news has a good video report that includes a demo of the phone as well as an explanation of the features.

[Source: Akihabara News]

To date, Tencent’s has made a total investment worth about 2 billion yuan. Some of these investment include U.S-based Riot Games, Huayi Brothers Media, and Elong, a China-based online travel company.

But that doesn’t seem to be enough for Tencent as Bloomberg reported this morning that the Internet behemoth will allocate an additional five billion yuan to its investment fund. For the math-impaired out there, that totals a whopping sum of 10 billion yuan.

This boost in funds demonstrates Tencent’s commitment towards expansion by acquiring and investing in potential firms. It is also worthy to note that Tencent is one of the investing partners in A-Fund, together with companies like GREE and KDDI. A-Fund is a fund focusing on Android-based applications. Other notable partners for the company include Groupon, Nokia, and Intel.

The fund was made possible with investment and support from GREE Inc., Japan’s largest mobile gaming social network, KDDI Corporation, Japan’s second largest mobile operation and Tencent, one of the largest Internet companies in China. More

The A-Fund will be managed by DCM, an investor in early stage technology companies based in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Tokyo.

“The rise of Android is a rare and massive opportunity – one that comes only once in a major tech cycle,” said David Chao, co-founder and general partner, DCM in the statement.

“The A-Fund will seek out the most promising companies enhancing and extending the rich open Android ecosystem – in mobile and beyond – including applications, services, and enabling technologies.”

Earlier this year, a comScore report indicated that Android’s market share in the U.S overtook Apple’s for the first time. Research firm, iSuppli Corp also estimated that the Google’s Android worldwide market share would outnumber iPhone by 2012.

“There is an amazing array of ideas and talent waiting to be unleashed,” said Yoshikazu Tanaka, founder and CEO of GREE. “The A-Fund will give startups the ability to take advantage of Android’s inherent international potential, and access to top investors and strategic partners across the world.”

Credit: Canalys data