Apple Reserves NAND Memory for iPod
DoCoMo Introduces Super Thin Camera-less 3G Handset
Bandai Develops Toy Cellular Phone for Kids
Casio Ranks Highest in Cellular Phone Customer Satisfaction in Japan
NEC Reorganizes Network Sales and Strengthens IP Phone Sales
South Korea to Standardize Cellular Phone Accessories
Shanghai's Cell Phone TV Users Grow Rapidly
BenQ Backs Out of Taiwan MP3 Market

Apple Computer signed agreements with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba and secured supply of NAND flash memory up to 2010, Itmedia reported on November 22, 2005. Apple is going to pay $1.25 billion in advance in the next three months. Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs commented, "We want to be able to produce as many of our wildly popular iPods as the market demands"

Included in the $1.25 billion, Apple will pay $500 million to Intel and Micron, securing the supply quantity from IM Flash Technologies, a NAND flash memory joint venture between Intel and Micron.

On November 21, 2005, Intel and Micron made an announcement that the two firms agreed to set up IM Flash Technologies, a NAND flash manufacturing joint venture. Intel and Micron simultaneously announced that it would supply significant portion of the joint venture's output to Apple Computer. IM Flash Technologies will be formally set up before the end of 2005. Micron will own 51 percent and Intel will own 49 percent of the new entity. The new company will be capitalized at $2.4 billion, with Intel and Micron investing $1.2 billion each. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest wireless service provider, introduced a super thin FOMA, the prosolid II, on November 25, 2005. It is available in either silver or black body color.

The prosolid II features 16.7 mm thickness and 99g in weight. While it adopted a magnesium chassis for the casing, it secured the rigidity by adopting a monocoque structure and bathtub structure. The prosolid II is targeted to business people in their 30's-50's. Although it does not have a camera, it is capable of video telephony using a replacement image. The handset supports iChannel, iAppli, IrDA, and automatic time adjustment. The prosolid II incorporates a 2.2-inch QVGA TFT LCD with 65,000 colors and a 0.8-inch OEL display supporting 96 x 25 pixels. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Bandai of Japan has developed the Super mel petit M, a toy cellular phone for children. The company is going to debut the new handset in mid December 2005 for 9,450 yen ($85.91 @ yen 110/$US 1). The Super mel petit M is going to be available in department stores and major toy stores across Japan. The handset is capable of exchanging e-mails with real cellular phones and receiving ringer tone music files and image files through real cellular phones. Those features were achieved by the muPass, an IrDA communication module supporting a copyright protection function. Sammy NetWorks developed the muPass and plans to market the technology to other devices to enable the download of ringer tones and software by various home electronics via cellular phones.

Bandai has been marketing the mel petit, a toy that looks like a cellular phone. The unit does not support a communication function like a cellular phone. It is capable of playing games, horoscopes, quizzes and exchanging e-mails and images with another mel petit unit. Bandai enabled downloading of ringer tone music and images through an actual cellular phone for the first time with the Super mel petit M. The new handset is targeted to girls 7-9 years old. Bandai aims to sell 24,000 units of the Super mel petit M by the end of March 2006. Images are available at: http://www.bandai.co.jp/releases/J2005111501.html [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

J.D Power Asia Pacific, a market research firm based in Tokyo, investigated Japanese cellular phone customer satisfaction. Casio, which had the highest ranking in five items such as camera function and display, became the handset with the highest customer satisfaction among the11 handset manufacturers in Japan. NEC has the least customer satisfaction, Nikkei Sangyo reported on November 18, 2005.

In August 2005, J.D. Power Asia Pacific conducted a survey of 3,227 cellular phone users on handsets purchased less than a year ago. The market firm surveyed them on seven items. Toshiba achieved the second highest customer satisfaction. Toshiba received the highest satisfaction on the "battery" item. Third place was a tie between Sony Ericsson and Sanyo Electric. Handset manufacturers supplying phones to KDDI (au), had higher rankings for customer satisfaction. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NEC of Japan is going to absorb 200 sales personnel engaged in network sales to corporate customers and who are currently located in its five group companies. The move is to strengthen sales of high growth products such as IP phone systems. NEC's subsidiary strategies prioritized the individuality of subsidiaries preparing for IPO. NEC changed its mind to increase control over its subsidiaries and minimize distribution of resources.

NEC's communication equipment sales team for corporate customers is going to increase its sales force. The company is going to transfer about 200 sales personnel and system engineers from the group companies in spring 2006. NEC already has 800 employees in the division. With reassignment from its group companies, the division will carry 1000 employees. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Data cables and earphones, which differ from one handset manufacturer to another, are going to be standardized in South Korea. South Korea's three mobile communication service providers: SK Telecom, KTF and LG Telecom agreed on the external interface of cellular phones and signed a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding).

Accordingly, reuse of cellular phone accessories such as earphone/microphones and data cables will be possible. Consumers who change handset models will not have to buy new accessories.

In addition, the lack of standardization prohibited development of value-added services which synchronize cellular phones with their external devices. In the future there will be various value-added services which synchronize the cellular phone input/output port and external devices. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

SMG's subsidiary announced on November 21, 2005 that China Mobile's cellular phone video phone service subscribers in Shanghai increased by 10 times and reached 5,000 in less than a year, a Chinese newspaper reported on November 22, 2005.

Cellular phone's TV contents are on the rise. SMG, a content provider, says content being offered includes news, economy, entertainment, sports and movies in a total of 12 channels. There are over 500 new programs every day.

Shanghai's subscribers can pay 20 yuan ($2.47 @ 8.08 yuan/$US 1) a month to view all the content. There are 45 handset models that support TV content viewing at this point.

IMS Research of the U.S. predicts that the global subscriber base of cellular phone TVs will reach 120 million in 2010. The market research firm forecasts that communication carriers and communication equipment makers will aggressively foray into the market. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Taiwanese media reported on November 24, 2005 that BenQ is going to withdraw its MP3 player series, Joybee from the Taiwanese market due to intensified competition with Apple's iPod series.

According to a Taiwanese source, Rio and Olympus already backed out of the Taiwanese MP3 market for the same reason. BenQ is reportedly going to introduce a handset supporting an MP3 function in the near future. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]