New NEC i-Mode Wireless Handset

KPN Mobile has passed the milestone of 100,000 i-mode customers in the Netherlands. More than one thousand handsets are now being sold every day. This works out to one new i-mode user every minute. One out of every two subscriptions that KPN Mobile is currently selling is an i-mode subscription. A choice of several different handsets has significantly boosted sales.

Inset is shown the NEC n22i open and clam photos.

Before Christmas KPN Mobile will add to its range a third i-mode handset: the NEC n22i. The company expects the new handset to sustain the sharp rise in sales. The NEC n22i will go on sale from € 99 in the Netherlands on 23 December 2002 at outlets including KPN’s Primafoon shops. The NEC n22i will be introduced in Germany and Belgium on the same date.

The NEC n22i features an elegant design with integrated antenna and weighs only 110 grams. The attractive 4096-colour screen and the 40 tone ringtones add an extra dimension to i-mode services. The NEC n22i is further an eye-catcher for its second display on the outside of the handset. It is now even easier to send and receive pictures and images by i-mode. Every photo or image format is simple to send from a PC to an i-mode mail address and vice versa, or from one i-mode handset to another.

i-mode gives users fast and easy access to private and business information wherever and whenever they want it. Popular i-mode services include ringtones, news, weather forecasts, telephone directories and soccer information. Last-minute holidays, leisure activities throughout the Netherlands, the latest snow reports, VIP spotting, erotic images, speed checks, animations, chatting, payment of parking fees – 'it's really possible with i-mode'.

Surveys show that satisfaction among i-mode customers remains high (83%). The growing number of customers means that considerable use is being made of the e-mail function in i-mode. More than two million mail messages have already been sent and received via i-mode. To send or receive an e-mail costs € 0,03. 92% of the inbound messages originate from a personal computer and 66% are sent to a PC. The i-mode concept is built firmly on integration of the mobile handset and open Internet world.

TODAY'S PRESS RELEASES

Rod Nelson, Chief Technology Officer for AT&T Wireless, will begin serving as the Chairman of the Board of Governors for 3G Americas beginning January 2003.

The major operators in the UK -- Orange, Vodafone, O2 and T-Mobile -- have not yet agreed to terms for sending photo messages between their networks.

Wang Jianzhou, president of China Unicom ( inset ) expressed on December 12 in the CDMA Global Carriers Summit that China Unicom is going to trial the Qualcomm-based third generation CDMA 2000

ITC has non-exclusive license to develop, manufacture and sell wireless devices built to 2G and 2.5G TDMA standards, including IS-54/136, GSM, GPRS, EDGE and 3G standards,

Lucent Technologies today introduced a capacity-increasing chip that will be integrated into its new flagship third-generation (3G) CDMA2000™ base station

J-PHONE that it has sought permission from the Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications to offer six price plans and seven discount services for its 2G (PDC) networks

Before Christmas KPN Mobile will add to its range a third i-mode handset: the NEC n22i. The company expects the new handset to sustain the sharp rise in sales.

OPPONENTS of a controversial mobile phone mast scheme near Cave Hill, Belfast Northern Ireland today enlisted the help of Father Christmas.

Cingular is now beginning to test a software upgrade for its 3G technology - called EDGE. As part of its current GSM deployment, radios in GSM overlay markets are already EDGE hardware capable.

Lucent Technologies announced that it has signed a $100 million agreement with U.S. Cellular for the deployment of third-generation (3G) CDMA 1XRTT infrastructure equipment and professional services.

Vodafone announced that it will be the first mobile operator to empower end users to author, manage and send their own personal multimedia messages (MMS) using the revolutionary Memphis platform from Alatto Technologies.

3G technology company, UbiNetics, has licensed its WCDMA simulator and algorithm development tools to Taiwan's leading technology research institute.

3G technology company, UbiNetics, is expanding its presence in the Far East with the opening of an office in Taiwan and the appointment of David You as vice-president for Asia.

QUALCOMM congratulates Telesp Celular and Telefonica Celular, two of the largest Brazilian mobile operators with a combined total of 13.5 million subscribers, on their third-generation (3G) CDMA2000 1X network expansions

So how do you go about getting new customers to fork out a substantial amount of money for new technology? 3 is going with the snazzy "it works great" Flash demo approach, combined with a lot of somewhat vague information.