Asia Optical's Super-Slim Digital Still Camera
China Heads Toward Mega Pixel Camera Phone Age
China Unicom Forms Alliance with Digital China
Bellwave to Export Handsets to Vietnam
NHJ Announces 5.1M Pixel Digital Still Camera
Japan's DVD Recorder Shares
DoCoMo Pushes FeliCa
KDDI Reduces 3G Packet Communication Charges
Toshiba to Roll Out HDD Audio Player in North America

Asia Optical, Taiwan's largest optical lens manufacturer, announced a super-slim 4 megapixel digital still camera equipped with 3x optical zoom on June 10, 2004. The company already has an order for one million units from Japan. The new super-slim camera contains seven lenses (thickness of 1.45 cm) with the thickness of the main body being 2 cm. Asia Optical achieved the thinness by adopting molded glass aspheric lenses. Asia Optical is producing 2 million molded glass aspheric lenses a month. The company plans to boost the output to 3 million lenses a month before the year's end.

According to Digitimes, Asia Optical shipped more than 1 million camera phone lenses for the first time in May 2004. The company expects its monthly camera phone lens shipment to reach 1.5 million units in the third quarter 2004. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NEC rolled out a 1.3 million-pixel camera handset, the N830, in China on June 12, 2004. Nokia plans to release a one million-pixel camera handset soon. Camera handsets with mega-pixel capability will stimulate purchasing by Chinese consumers, a Chinese news source reported on June 15, 2004.

Following NEC and Nokia's footsteps, Sony Ericsson, Konka, Motorola, TCL and Amoisonic are solidifying their plans for mega-pixel camera handset commercialization. Conservatively estimated, over 10 models of mega-pixel camera handsets will be introduced in China before the end of 2004. Each manufacturer already announced its mega-pixel camera model, with the roll out to start any time. TCL announced in March 2004 that the company would begin sales of a 3 million-pixel camera handset at the end of 2004. Amoisonic said on June 2, 2004 that it would commercialize a 1.1 million-pixel camera handset for high-end users in the fourth quarter 2004.

Also, Siemens and Motorola displayed their mega-pixel camera handsets at CeBIT Asia, held in Shanghai in April 2004.

Camera handsets in China are targeted to high-income consumers at this point. Each handset supplier set their camera handset prices at around 3500-4800 yuan ($423-$580 @ yuan 8.28/$US 1) with the target age of their purchasers being 30-45 years old. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

China's No.2 wireless communication carrier, China Unicom, tied up with a major IT solution firm, Digital China, to jointly develop and cultivate the cdma2000 1x network technology market, eNet reported on June 14, 2004.

An executive of Digital China commented, "While dependency on networks by the communication industry and business environment is increasing, every industry is trying to improve their business efficiency through the Internet. However, network technology is not sufficient for users' needs requesting flexible network environment at this point."

Under such circumstances, China Unicom's cdma2000 1x network is attractive for Digital China, other software makers, and the related service industry, as it is capable of high-speed, large capacity, and dependable data communications.

Digital China markets DCWL-390C CDMA1x, a wireless LAN card complaint with China Unicom's cdma2000 1x network. The card achieves 153.6kbps data communication speed. Digital China also plans to offer SMS transmission/receiving and forwarding, VPN (Virtual Private Network) services.

Digital China also plans to introduce 3G wireless handsets supporting cdma2000 1x EV-DO and cdma2000 1x EV-DV. By leveraging its strong brand power in the Chinese market, Digital China plans aggressive strategies to improve its competitive edge by pushing 3G wireless handsets and cdma2000 1x compliant technologies. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Bellwave of South Korea announced on June 14, 2004 that the company would begin supplying wireless handsets to Vietnamese handset manufacturer, POSTEF. Bellwave will supply three models of GSM/GPRS handsets to POSTEF including a camera handset model. The contract is estimated at $15 million. Those handsets will be supplied to the Vietnamese cellular phone market starting from August 2004.

POSTEF, a subsidiary of VNPT, which is a Vietnamese wireless service operator, has been manufacturing and selling over 700,000 fixed line and wireless handsets annually. POSTEF also exports those handsets to Laos and Cambodia.

A Bellwave representative commented, "With this contract, we established a foothold in the Vietnamese market, which has a wireless population of 4 million."

With deployment of its market diversification strategy this year, Bellwave won handset supply contracts from companies in Russia, Africa, Middle East, and South East Asia in addition to China. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NHJ, which markets low-price home electronics in Japan, announced new audio visual products to be introduced between summer and fall of 2004. The new products are a 5.1 million-pixel digital still camera, a digital camcorder housing a 2GB small HDD and a portable audio player capable of displaying digital images. Although prices for the new products were not announced, NHJ plans to introduce them at surprisingly low prices. In the past NHJ commercialized a 3 million-pixel digital still camera which was co-developed with a Japanese retail chain Aeon, for less than half of the market price. NHJ plans to stick with its price strategies with the new products.

The 5.1 million-pixel digital still camera, D'zign DZ-588, features 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom. It contains 16MB flash EEPROM while supporting an SD memory card. The camera supports a 1.5-inch low temperature poly silicon TFT LCD screen. It will be commercialized in mid July 2004.

The HDD digital camcorder D'zign DV-5 contains a 3 million-pixel CCD. It can record VGA size video at 30 frames per second. It compresses and stores captured video in MPEG-4 format. It has a 2-inch low temperature poly silicon TFT LCD panel. The D'zign DV-5 is going to be available in October 2004. NHJ showcased a prototype of this product at CEATEC Japan 2003. NHJ was going to adopt Eastman Kodak's OEL (organic electroluminescent) panel in this product then. In the actual product, it decided to use a low temperature poly silicon TFT panel as it could not secure sufficient quantity of the OEL panels. The company expanded the HDD capacity to 2GB from 1.5GB, which was the capacity for the prototype.

The portable audio player is named V@mp VP-325/350. The memory capacity is 256MB for the VP-356 and 512MB for the VP-350. It can play MP3, WMA and OGG format music files. It houses a 1.9-inch LCD panel and can display JPEG format image data. NHJ plans to introduce it in mid July 2004. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Multimedia Research Institute (MMRI) of Japan published a report on DVD recorder shipments during the fiscal year 2003 (April 2003 to March 2004) in Japan. According to MMRI, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., known internationally for its Panasonic brand, scored the leading share with 35.7 percent. Sony's share advanced from fourth place in the FY 2002 to second place in the FY 2003. Sony's share improved because of its hit DVD recorder called Sugoroku, which was commercialized in Japan at the end of 2003.

MMRI collected shipment data for DVD recorders, DVD recorders with built-in HDD, DVD recorders with VHS, DVD recorders with built-in HDD and VHS. The shipment volume in FY2003 tripled to 2.17 million units from FY2002. MMRI states the price drop of DVD recorders equipped with HDD to under 100,000 yen ($909 @ yen 110/$US 1) is accelerating the penetration of DVD recorders in Japan. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

The director of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode operation made a presentation at the Mobile Marketing Conference 2004, held in Tokyo on June 10, 2004. He emphasized the social impact of DoCoMo's upcoming handsets equipped with contactless IC card technology, FeliCa.

According to Mr. Tsuyoshi Natsuno, "Lifestyle changing event takes place in the cellular phone industry in every five years." The first was the "handset purchase system" in 1994. With the new system, many users were able to buy handsets easily, which led to a demand boost for voice calls and cellular phones became the communication infrastructure. Then introduction of the i-mode (DoCoMo's wireless Internet service) in 1999 raised demand for data communication and i-mode became the IT infrastructure. Handsets equipped with FeliCa will become the "lifestyle" infrastructure, Mr. Natsuno stressed. Users just place a FeliCa handset on a reader/writer at each usage point. DoCoMo's goal is to achieve sales of 10 million FeliCa handsets in a year and a half.

Shortly after Mr. Natsuno's presentation, DoCoMo officially announced that it would introduce four models of FeliCa handsets in early July 2004. The announcement was made on June 16, 2004. The handset models are F900iC (Fujitsu), Mova P506iC (Panasonic), Mova SH506iC (Sharp) and Mova SO506iC (Sony Ericsson). Fujitsu's F900iC is the only handset for DoCoMo's 3G wireless service, FOMA.

The F900iC equipped with a fingerprint sensor supports an IC card lock and remote FeliCa lock function, which prevents the use of the FeliCa function by a third party. It integrates a 1.28 million-pixel CCD camera with auto focus support. It has a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT LCD and a 1.1-inch organic electroluminescent sub-display. The handset supports a miniSD card, measures 104 mm x 51 mm x 26 mm and weighs 129g.

The P506iC is operable without opening the clamshell handset. It features a 1.95-million pixel camera. The display is a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT LCD with 65,536 colors. It is equipped with a miniSD card slot. Its dimension is 111 mm x 50 mm x 26 mm with 128g in weight.

The SH506iC, with a double axis of gyration, is also operable without being opened. It supports a 2.02 million-pixel CCD camera with AF function. It's equipped with a miniSD card slot. The handset has a 2.2 –inch QVGA TFT LCD screen with 262,144 colors. It also has a 0.6-inch monochrome STN sub-display and weighs 136g.

The SO506iC is a so-called "180-degree" style. The handset opens with a sliding motion. It has replaceable covers with multiple covers available. The display is a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT LCD supporting 262,144 colors. The handset supports the Memory Stick Duo. It measures 106 mm x 50 mm x 28 mm and weighs 140g.

A picture of four FeliCa handsets are available at:

http://k-tai.impress.co.jp/cda/article/news_toppage/19306.html

As an example of a FeliCa complaint service, the Japanese convenience store chain "am/pm" will make its 1400 stores across Japan compatible with the i-mode FeliCa. More concretely, users can pay with "Edy", electronic money preinstalled in the handsets. am/pm Japan says if users pay with FeliCa, the register transaction time will be reduced from 34-35 seconds to 25-26 seconds per purchaser as no coin changes will be necessary for such transactions. am/pm is also going to offer a sales promotion in conjunction with the i-mode FeliCa. If a user resisters with "club ap", he or she can try a scratch game on iAppli after every 500 yen ($4.55 @ yen 110/$US 1) purchase using Edy. Winners get a free ringer melody.

As many as 39 companies are going to offer FeliCa compatible services. Upon the service launch, 11 companies will offer compatible services. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

KDDI, Japan's second largest wireless service operator, is going to reduce 3G wireless packet communication fees starting from August 1, 2004, the company made an announcement on June 16, 2004. KDDI said it would keep the current fee plan of 4200 yen ($38.18 @ yen 110/$US 1) a month (EZ flat) as the upper limit while it would introduce a new fee plan, 2000 yen a month ($18.18). CEO of KDDI, commented, "We would like more users to try data communication than EZ flat users."

The new fee plan will be divided into three types. 1) 2000 yen ($18.18) a month if packet volume is 40,000 packets or less, 2) if packet volume is more than 40,000 packet and less than 84,000 packets, 2000 yen ($18.18) plus 0.05 yen per packet, and 3) if packet volume is more than 84,000 packets, 4200 yen a month ($38.18).

The financial impact of the new fee structure has not been disclosed. CEO, Mr. Onodera said, "Revenue loss is probably less than 10 billion yen ($90.91 million). In the short term, revenue will decline due to the lower fee structure. However, in the mid term, the new service plan will lead to ARPU increase of data communication and will lead to a favorable direction".

Then Mr. Onodera said, "There is no quantitative data on how much traffic volume will increase due to introduction of the new fee structure. Some increase is expected. However, increase volume is likely to be smaller than the packet volume increase at the time of the EZ flat introduction." indicating there will be little impact regarding load increase on its communication network. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Toshiba is going to introduce a portable HDD audio player, gigabeat, in North America soon. It is based on gigabeat G21 (see pictures at: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2004_03/pr_j1803.htm), which Toshiba released in Japan in April 2004. The gigabeat features a 20GB HD, enabling storage and replay of about 5000 music files. Toshiba initially plans to sell 5000 sets and depending on the market demand, it plans to expand sales volume.

Toshiba's HDD audio player for the North American market will be sold solely through the website of Toshiba's North American subsidiary. It is not going to be available in retail outlets. The new player will be priced at around $400. The basic specification will be the same as the gigabeat G21, with minor alterations to the remote controller.

HDD audio players are becoming popular in North America, Japan and Asia as they are compatible with PCs and with the spreading availability of music download services. Toshiba forecasts that HDD audio player market will expand to 3.7 million units in the fiscal 2004 (April 2004 - March 2005) and 6 million units in the fiscal 2006 (April 2006 – March 2007). Toshiba, which produces the main component HDD, has advantages in procurement and cost competitiveness.

In Japan Toshiba will introduce new models starting from mid July 2004. Apple Computer, which has delayed the introduction of the iPod mini in Japan due to its overwhelming popularity in the U.S. market, is going to introduce the iPod mini in Japan in July 2004. Rio Japan, which belongs to D&M Holdings, is also going to introduce a new portable audio player in Japan this fall. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]