Foma 10-1

Foma 10-1

These phones ship in just a week. NTT is rolling out FOMA. There W-CDMA 3G phone service next week. It's been in test trials since May. If you check out those phones the one on the right has a video camera in the hinge for video conferencing on your phone.

They're also planning on offering video on demand for these things. I suspect in Japan that will quickly mean scary business men watching porn on the trains but I suppose another use will be to watch movie trailers or sports highlights.

The prices start at $40 a month which is about the same as i-Mode phones but the per minute price is a little higher. 40 to 60 cents a minute. I think i-Mode goes down to 20 cents a minute on certain plans at certain times.

Comments:

They're out [ e ]

I checked out the FOMA phones today. The one with the video camera is a little on the large size. At least relative to other Japanese cell phones.

They showed them on the news tonight, interviewing people signing up for them this morning. They are $500 for the phone which is pretty high. Most new phones in Japan by NTT are $200 to $350 and drop to under $100 as soon as the next models come out. For example the phone I bought in June for $250 is now $68 since the newer models came out.

People are asking why anybody would want video. It will be interesting to see how much it's used and how what it turns into. You can watch TV so I guess that might be a way to pass your commute if you are willing to pay for it. Then again you could just get a pocket TV for that. I guess since it's digital you get more channels

One example they gave, some pre-schools have netcams so from your cellphone you can check on your kids at pre-school while you are at work or whatever.

I guess KDDI, a competitor of NTT released TV service on your cell phone last week 9/20. J-Phone is not supposed to release a similar service until next June.

posted by greggmanSeptember 30, 2001 at 18:16