AU's new Hello Messenger and single segment services
KDDI has introduced two new services for au handsets over in Japan: "Hello Messenger" and "EZ TV (Single Segment Support)." The former is au's take on Push-to-Talk: they figured since just a transceiver function is "not interesting," they've added support for text and images. Their target for this new service is high school girls, who in Japan at least, always seem to enjoy new ways of communicating with their friends. Since up to 5 people can get in on the action at the same time, you essentially end up with a portable, private chatroom that has text, audio, and image support.
"Single Segment" refers to terrestrial digital broadcasts intended solely for mobile devices such as PDAs and cellphones. KDDI's "EZ TV (Single Segment Support)" adds support for these signals to their existing TV service, "EZ TV." What good does that do you? Not only is further information about what's being shown on TV displayed on your screen, but KDDI has integrated the new service with GPS functionality. If, for example, a program on TV is talking about the grand opening of a new store, you'll be able to follow a link that's displayed on your screen, and you'll be taken to directions of how to get to the store from wherever you may be.
