Motorola Inc. and Motorola Japan Ltd. will work with NTT DoCoMo Inc. to develop a handset for business users on the Japanese carrier’s high-speed third-generation FOMA network.
The GSM/GPRS handset will be the first FOMA model that will work outside Japan. It is scheduled for commercial launch in the spring of 2005.
Targeted at the business user, the FOMA device will feature wireless Internet access through any available Internet connection service, and its browser will display standard Web pages. The device will also be compatible with public wireless local area network services. It will support Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and include Bluetooth connectivity and Personal Information Management (PIM) capabilities. Symbian said the device will incorporate the Symbian operating system.
“This FOMA handset will help business users to multitask and be more efficient, especially when traveling outside Japan, because they can user the phone and all its features anywhere in the world while staying connected to Japan,” said Patrick Kung, corporate vice president of Motorola and general manager of PCS North Asia.
The Motorola-DoCoMo deal is significant because it brings a U.S. company into the competitive Japanese marketplace, which has been dominated by Japanese handset makers like NEC Corp., Sharp Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
DoCoMo’s adoption of W-CDMA for its 3G networks, as opposed to the homegrown PDC technology used for its 2G networks, opened the gates for foreign handset makers. Nokia Corp. has also reportedly said it is in talks with DoCoMo for 3G handsets.
Following the news, Standard & Poor’s reiterated its “buy” rating on Motorola, calling the DoCoMo deal “a plus to gain market share in Japan.” Motorola was trading at $16.16 per share, and DoCoMo was at $19.07 per share on the partnership news.
Separately, DoCoMo today announced its public WLAN international roaming service will be extended to 33 countries effective Sept. 3 via an agreement with iPass Inc. DoCoMo will charge about 27 cents per minute roaming fees.
The countries are located in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa, however, iPass’ access points in Japan will not be available to DoCoMo’s WLAN users.
