Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve paid any attention whatsoever to the goings-on in the American cellphone market, you’d know that ponying up the dough to start an MVNO here is probably not your best shot at striking it rich. One after another has fallen flat, even ones that had millions (and millions) in marketing dollars behind ’em. That said, Japan’s own NTT DoCoMo is mulling the possibility of fully entering the US cell market next year, offering up smartphones and “other high-performance handsets with its i-mode mobile internet service.” We’re told that the operator may start as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), leasing capacity from T-Mobile USA or AT&T until it decides on its next move. Call us crazy, but we’re guessing it just might have a shot here on US soil if it snags the iPhone, enables all those 3G services that have been running for years on other platforms and only charges one (as opposed to three or four) human limbs for a monthly plan.

[Thanks, shinbunboi]

Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DoCoMo might just enter the US cellphone market, MVNO graveyard wishes it luck originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As with most accomplishments these days, we can’t help but place a rather large asterisk next to Sony’s award for managing to outsell the iPod lineup with its Walkman. According to Tokyo-based research firm BCN Inc., for the week ending August 30th, the Walkman series had a 43 percent share of the personal music player market versus 42.1 percent for iPods, marking the first time in four years that Sony’s managed to get the upper hand. Got that? Good, now for a major caveat. For whatever reason, iPhones aren’t considered part of the iPod line, meaning people who want the luxuries of the iPod touch and a wireless data plan aren’t included in the survey. That’s quite an omission — the iPhone 3GS is currently the best-selling phone in Japan, after all — and we gotta imagine it’d be more than enough to tilt the data in Apple’s favor, even if you threw in Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phones for good measure. But hey, it’s still a feat in its own right, and Sony might as well celebrate while it lasts — something tells us the gang in Cupertino has something up their sleeve soon.

Filed under: Portable Audio

Walkman outsells iPod in Japan for first time in four years… but iPhone sales don’t count originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The big rumor out of Japan today has NEC locked in heated negotiations with existing joint venture Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications to add itself into the mix — a JV that’s currently a 51 / 49 percent ownership split between Casio and Hitachi, respectively — with NEC wanting to pick up a total of 50 percent of the combined operation. Japan’s one of the more competitive, low-margin mobile markets in the world (just ask Mitsubishi) so it makes sense that a lot of these guys would be looking to consolidate and work on their sourcing scales of economy; if it happens, the rumor has the deal targeted for an April 2010 close that would make the combined operation the second-largest in the market at 20 percent share behind Sharp at 23 percent. Does this mean they’ll be more friendly toward the crazy idea of wide-scale North American launches, by chance? Please?

[Via MobileCrunch]

Filed under: Cellphones

NEC rumored to want in on Casio Hitachi joint venture originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not long after establishing a prototype EV battery switching station in Japan, Better Place is now partnering with Nihon Kotsu, Tokyo’s largest taxi operator, to put the thing through its paces, swapping out batteries for up to four electric hacks scheduled to run from the Roppongi Hills shopping and office complex beginning in January next year. In Tokyo, cabs account for only two percent of the traffic, yet they produce twenty-percent of its CO2 emissions — a fact that further drives home the point that greening our public transportation is an important first step in cleaning up the environment. The study comes hot on the heels of other deals in the works for Israel, Europe, and the San Francisco. Albert Hockenberry would be impressed.

[Via PhysOrg]

Filed under: Transportation

Better Place tests its EV battery switching stations on Tokyo cabbies originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you want something to look forward to in your fast approaching old age, eh? If robots playing baseball doesn’t quite cut it, how’s about a robohand that redefines what we understand by the word “dexterity”? The Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory is at it again, this time demonstrating robotic appendages with a reaction time of a single millisecond. Using harmonic drive gears and a (really) high-speed actuator, the three-fingered hands can tie your shoelaces, tweezer your brow, and even perform some kung fu pen spinning for the ladies. Video after the break — skip ahead if you must, but don’t miss out on the slow-mo action at 2:40 in the demo, it’s pure kinetic poetry.

[Via Hizook; Thanks, Thomas B]

Continue reading Video: Robot hand shows off amazing dexterity, speed

Filed under: Robots

Video: Robot hand shows off amazing dexterity, speed originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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