#1, About 6 months ago three new mobile service licenses were handedd out to Softbank, eMobile and ipMobile. Softbank since aquiring Vodafone have returned theirs, but the other two are getting prepared for a launch sometime within the next 6 months.

#2, Willcom is picking up steam, but still only has a tiny market share percentage, and the big 3 dont yet see them as a threat. Vodafone / Softbank were losing maket share, and few expect the aquisition to make many any changes that could really effect their poor performance.

One thing that is important to not is that these phones will NOT be able to be used with other carriers. This means that YES you will be able to roam in other countries using your DoCoMo connected phone, but will not be able to discard the DoCoMo part.

DoCoMo's new 902iS series also features two handsets which are roaming 3G capable. DoCoMo are slowly but surely making changes to their network and hardware that means their WCDMA network will become intercompatable with the Euro and American standards.

Again, however, you can only use them on a DoCoMo contract, roaming in other countries, not connectable directly to an international service provider.

Only if it comes with the quality haircut.

Tomokun, Any idea who the manufacturer of the IIDX controller is - and/or if there's a website for purchace / pre-order?

Good one, Cybe. You've got a real talent for spotting the obvious and intentional.

Raja, I thought the same thing. 'NTI Comodo' and
NTT DoCoMo' have a similar ring to them ;).

Meanwhile, it seems like a very cool device. I've not had any experience with e-books, but are they more or less .txt files with pretty formatting?

As someone who uses a mobile phone equipped with a FeliCa IC chip every day for the trains, food, shopping and entertainment I'm yet to figure out how anyone directly makes money from it.

I charge in increments of 1,2,5 or Y10(,000) - (That's about $100USD for those of you playing at home), and that's exactally what I get.

There's no 'taxes' or 'fees', the service is completely free. I assume the profit goes to the provider (DoCoMo) in sales of handsets boasting 'equipped with IC', and then some to retailers who supply the hardware to use it at their stores on the idea that people will buy more with their Mobile Wallet rather than using real cash.

As for these cards it seems rediculous to buy a card each time to want to charge up. I would imagine that you would be able to 'charge' your card atleast somehow. you'd probably have to do this dodgily online with serial numbers as the cards would have limited~no credit communication between the handset. This ofcourse means that the only way of checking your balance would probably be to go to some WAP site etc.

The more I think about this the worse the idea sounds. Well lets just hope they do it (if they actually -do- do it) well. End rant.

Geez, blah, have a cry about it.

It's funny that you guys make such a big deal about wireless email. It's the standard here in Japan, where only a handful of handsets support SMS.

I assume the delay in email standardisation is in liu of of the fact that service providers are making plenty of cash from SMS.

Not if you called 'em "Stench Blossoms".

" $425 Japanese yen. " Don't do inline conversions. That's just slack and reeks of cheapism.

"50,000 Japanese Yen ($425 USD)" would probably be a better choice.