Media, Entertainment and Gaming
Sony Corp. has decided to terminate the sale of its two original PlayStation 3 models in Japan and focus on the new slimmed-down version amid fierce competition from rival Nintendo Co. The companyÆs game unit said it would end shipments of PlayStation 3 with 20- and 60-gigabyte hard disk drives this month in its domestic market. Sony said it is looking to the cheaper PS3 with a 40-GB hard disk drive that was introduced in Japan in November last year to compete with Nintendo's more affordable Wii video game console. Industry observers see the move as a response to the strong demand for Wii, which was outselling the PS3 in the domestic market in 2007.
Internet
Sony has entered into a partnership with Skype, the instant message and Internet voice platform owned by eBay, to enable users of its latest slim PSP-2000 to make low-cost telephone calls and free calls around the world via the Internet. Following a system software update scheduled for late January, PlayStation Portable users will be added to SkypeÆs 260 million-member network. With a memory stick, a wireless Internet connection and a Skype-compatible audio input device, PSP players will be able to chat via instant messaging and make voice calls to other Skype users online for free and to call landlines and mobile phones anywhere in the world at low fees.
Matsushita Electric Industrial announced that it is working with Google to develop televisions that display Internet content such as photos and videos. According to Matsushita, the TVs will be launched in North America this spring. The appliance allows consumers to directly browse and access videos through YouTube, a video-sharing web site owned by Google, and view Picasa Web Albums, a free online photo-sharing service also from Google. Matsushita said it has not decided a date yet for the global launch of the new product. In a separate development, Panasonic unveiled the world's largest plasma television at the opening of the world's biggest consumer electronics trade show. The Viera brand high-definition television called Life Screen measures 150 inches, or some 12.5 feet (381 centimetres) diagonally.
Mobile/Wireless
NTT DoCoMo said the number of subscribers to its i-channel news service surpassed 15 million on January 3, 2008. DoCoMoÆs i-channel is a push service that automatically sends scrolling-text headlines to a phoneÆs standby screen. The headlines come from the i-channel site, which is arranged into five information channels: weather, news, sports & entertainment, horoscopes and recommended i-mode sites. By simply pushing the i-channel button on a compatible phone, the user can view detailed information about each headline.
Sony has released a new Close Proximity Wireless Transfer Technology that enables high speed transfer of large data files between electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, digital video cameras, computers and TVs. Using this technology, called TransferJet, data can be sent at speeds of 560Mbps. Sony described TransferJet as an extremely simple wireless technology which eliminates the need for complex setup and operation. Just touching a TV with a digital camera enables photos to be instantaneously displayed on the TV screen. The technology can also download music by touching a mobile phone to a portable audio player. TransferJet can be used as a Universal Interface among a wide variety of consumer electronics devices.
According to JapanÆs Telecommunications Carriers Association, the number of cell phone subscribers in Japan surpassed 100 million for the first time at the end of December. As of the end of 2007, new subscribers from KDDI Corp. (138,600), NTT DoCoMo (121,500) and Softbank Mobile Corp. (210,800) brought the total number of subscribers to 100.4 million. The report attributed the surge in subscriptions to the widening of the cell phone market to include children and the elderly, and with the use nearing one handset per person. According to the British business research firm Informa Telecoms and Media, Brazil, China, India, Russia and the US each topped 100 million subscribers at the end of November. Japan is the sixth nation to break the 100 million mark.
Ventures/Investments
NTT Data Corp. has transformed itelligence AG, a Germany-based systems integration and software development firm, into a subsidiary through a tender offer by its European unit. The offer was carried out by NTT Data Europe GmbH in two stages, with the shares going beyond the targeted minimum of 12.3 million, which is equal to a 50% stake in the company. itelligence is a major player in the field of systems integration using SAP AG's business software and trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Through the deal, NTT Data said it looks to strengthen its capacity for Japanese clients using SAP systems in Europe and North America. itelligence said it aims to widen its operations in East Asia and North America.
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