Japan Computer Industry Scan articles from July 2005

Japan Computer Industry Scan archives from July 2005

DoCoMo, Vodafone to begin broadband cellular services in 2006.
July 5, 2005... TOKYO, July 1 Kyodo NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Vodafone K.K. plan to increase the maximum data transfer speeds of their respective cellphone services by around 10 times to about 3.6 megabits per second next year, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported...

LEAD: Oji Paper acquires Swiss photo papermaker Ilford Imaging.(OJI Paper Company Ltd., Ilford Imaging Switzerland GmbH)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2005... TOKYO, July 4 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING INFO) Oji Paper Co. announced Monday it has acquired Ilford Imaging Switzerland GmbH, a specialized producer of paper for use in printing digital photos using inkjet printers. The takeover of...

Heisei Den Den to launch high-speed wireless LAN business.(Dream Technologies Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2005... TOKYO, July 5 Kyodo Heisei Denden Co. said Tuesday it will offer a public high-speed wireless local area network communications service beginning in November in collaboration with information technology start-up Dream Technologies Corp....

ATTN KWS SUBSCRIBERS: feature photo advisory.
July 5, 2005... TOKYO, July 5 Kyodo A feature story on rugby, headlined, ''Japanese expats get hints for survival -- via rugby,'' and sent earlier, is accompanied by one photo, which is available via e-mail. Call+81-3-6252-8318 (features editor) or...

REFILING: ATTN KWS SUBSCRIBERS: feature photo advisory.
July 5, 2005... TOKYO, July 5 Kyodo A feature story on rugby, headlined, ''Japanese expats get hints for survival -- via rugby,'' and sent earlier, is accompanied by one photo, which is available via e-mail. Call+81-3-6252-8318 (features editor) or...

Software automatically sorts replies to R.S.V.P. messages.(M2I)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... FUKUOKA, July 6 Kyodo (EDS: FOR INQUIRIES, CALL M2I AT 097-554-6156) Oita-based M2I and two other companies have together developed software that automatically sorts e-mail replies to R.S.V.P. messages, company officials said...

Disaster-time messages can be left in English via 'au' mobile phones.(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... TOKYO, July 6 Kyodo KDDI Corp. said Wednesday its disaster-time message transmission services via the ''au'' mobile phone EZweb e-mail function will accept English messages from July 14. The services, which became available on Jan. 31...

WOWOW to enter mobile phone-based shopping site business.(Wowow Programming Inc., Bandai Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
July 11, 2005... TOKYO, July 7 Kyodo WOWOW Inc., a satellite pay-TV provider, said Thursday it has formed a business alliance with a subsidiary of toy maker Bandai Co. to operate a mobile phone-based shopping site. WOWOW and Bandai Networks Co. will...

ATTN KWS SUBSCRIBERS: Postwar60 feature photo advisory.
July 18, 2005... TOKYO, July 12 Kyodo A Postwar60 feature story on Japanese artists, headlined, ''Japanese artists use A-bomb as impetus for artwork,'' and sent earlier, is accompanied by two photos, which are available via e-mail. Call+81-3-6252-8318...

Microsoft releases latest software for auto-use info terminals.(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... TOKYO, July 12 Kyodo U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp.'s Japanese unit said Tuesday it has begun selling the latest operating system for automotive-use information terminals to makers of car navigation systems and developers of such...

2ND LD: TV networks to provide pay-per-view services on Internet.(Nippon Television Network Corp. plans)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... TOKYO, July 12 Kyodo (EDS: CHANGING 1ST GRAF, ADDING INFO IN 7TH TO 10TH GRAFS) The integration of broadcasting and communications services, a theme voiced by Internet portal Livedoor Co. when it tried to take over Nippon Broadcasting...

Bandai to buy 20% stake in People.(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... TOKYO, July 13 Kyodo Japan's largest toy maker Bandai Co. said Wednesday it will buy a stake of up to 20 percent in toy maker People Co. to enhance its business focusing on babies. Under the deal, Bandai, which already has 36,000...

Softbank to lease cellphone service network to other firms.(Softbank BB Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... TOKYO, July 13 Kyodo The Softbank group plans to lease its planned mobile phone service network to other companies when it is licensed to enter the market, a group company executive said Wednesday. ''We would like to provide business...

Bandai acquires extra People shares to become top shareholder.(Bandai Company Ltd.)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... TOKYO, July 14 Kyodo Japan's largest toymaker Bandai Co. acquired extra shares in People Co. on Thursday to boost its equity stake to 20 percent, Bandai said. Bandai, which already had 36,000 shares in People, a smaller toymaker,...

LEAD: Livedoor to apply for 2GHz spectrum for high-speed data service.(Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry)(Brief Article)
July 18, 2005... TOKYO, July 15 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATING, ADDING MORE INFO, BACKGROUND) Livedoor Co. has decided to apply for the upcoming spectrum allocation in the 2-gigahertz band in a bid to offer nationwide high-speed wireless data service, the...

April-June global shipments of personal computers rise 16.6%.(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... NEW YORK, July 19 Kyodo Global shipments of personal computers in the April-June quarter grew 16.6 percent from a year earlier to 46.56 million units on rising demand for laptop PCs in Europe and the United States, market researcher...

Personal data of 123 shoppers at Rakuten online mall leaked.(Brief Article)
July 25, 2005... TOKYO, July 23 Kyodo Personal data of 123 people who shopped at Japan's largest online shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba were leaked, its operator said Saturday. According to Rakuten Inc., the leaked data included credit card numbers,...