Month: November 2004

  • Marc Newson designed Talby concept phone announced by KDDI

    Marc Newson designed Talby concept phone announced by KDDI

    KDDI Design Project (today branded iida) Marc Newson designed Talby concept phone for Japan’s mobile operator KDDI – au On 13 October 2004, KDDI/AU announced “talby”, the third phone in their “AU design series”. Volume sales start in December 2004. We expect that “talby” will be similarly successful as “infobar” one year ago. “talby” is…

  • NTT to invest US$ 45 Billion over 6 years

    Softbank is rapidly becoming the third universal telco in Japan, targeting NTT’s most important income streams. KDDI of course is also targeting NTT’s fixed line income. On November 2, 2004, NTT announced plans to compete: NTT will invest 5 Chou YEN (YEN 5000 Billion = US$ 45 Billion) over 6 years (2005-2010), i.e. about US$…

  • Update on Prepaid Phones in Japan

    According to newsreports, Japan’s ruling coalition decided on a draft law, which will make identification requirements for obtaining prepaid phones more strict, instead of totally outlawing prepaid phones. It is reported that according to this bill the transfer of mobile phones to third parties would become a punishable offence. So if this bill becomes law,…