docomo

Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has teamed up with Google to offer Google services to its customers, including email, search, photo and schedule functionalities.

This partnership should be beneficial for both parties, as NTT DoCoMo has lost a decent number of subscribers in the recent years, and Google was the second search engine in Japan after Yahoo!.

It looks like Apple intends to bring the iPhone to Japan.

Currently the company's officials are negotiating with NTT DoCoMo, the largest Japanese carrier, trying to convince them to accept the revenue sharing deal. Steve Jobs is also in talks with Softbank in case NTT DoCoMo denies the offer.

Japanese NTT DoCoMo came up with a nice cell phone targeted at kids.

The handset is called Fujitsu F801i and offers several special functions that kids and their parents may find useful. First of all the device is waterproof, and features an alarm that can be triggered manually in case the child is being kidnapped.

The new Nokia NM705i has been recently approved by the FCC and will soon be available in Japan from NTT DoCoMo.

The phone is compatible with quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA networks, has an FM radio receiver on-board and supports a multitude of Bluetooth 2.0 profiles, including:

• Audio Streaming
• Audio/Video Remote Control Profile
• Dial-up Networking Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Generic Access Profile
• General Audio/Video Distribution Profile
• General Object Exchange Profile
• Hands-free Profile
• Headset Profile
• Object Push Profile
• Serial Port Profile

Pricing and availability details are yet unknown.

NTT DoCoMo Japan will soon start offering the new LG L704i Chocolate.

The phone comes in three standard colors, black, white and red, and will feature HSDPA connectivity, 2.2" QVGA display, 2Mpix camera and a VGA camera for video conversations.

I doubt that the new Chocolate will be popular, since NTT DoCoMo usually offers more advanced handsets then this one.

NTT DoCoMo customers in Japan will soon be able to get their hands on the new HTC P5500 Touch II "Nike" phone. The handset comes with the same design as the original Touch , but also features a sliding keypad. Other highlights include:

• Windows Mobile 6 OS
• Support for HSDPA and Wi-Fi networks
• SIP support
• Bluetooth connectivity
• Dual camera: photo/video and 3G

No word on pricing and the possible availability in the U.

Japan-based NTT DoCoMo Inc. got the permission from U.S. law enforcement and homeland security officials to purchase Guam Cellular & Paging Inc. and Guam Wireless Telephone Co. L.L.C. The security agreement was signed on Oct. 19 between the Department of Justice, FBI and Department of Homeland Security with the Federal Communications Commission. This deal provides shows the future telecom deals involving foreign investments into or outright purchases of American telecom carriers in the post-9/11 world.

NTT DoCoMo jointly developed a new smartphone with HTC which is set to debut later this month. The hTc Z is a Windows Mobile smartphone and will be one of the first devices marketed under the HTC brand (previously the company used OEM deals to have their products branded by other companies).

Features of the hTz Z include:

• Windows Mobile 5.0 Japanese edition
• W-CDMA/GSM/GPRS/WLAN
• QWERTY keyboard
• Bluetooth
• microSD card slot
• 240x320 screen with 65K colors
• 2 megapixel camera

The Z will be marketed primarily to business customers starting late this month.