T-Mobile is the first to take nGame's Java QuickStart Program
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Cambridge, 30th May, 2002 - nGame, leading aggregator and publisher of wireless content, is delighted to announce that T-Mobile has selected nGame's Java QuickStart Program as the cornerstone of its launch of mobile Java gaming throughout Europe. The two-year deal sees nGame shipping one hundred and twenty J2ME games, designed for a wide variety of Java-enabled handsets, which T-Mobile will distribute in Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. In addition, T-Mobile will also be initially using nGame's Java Games Store platform WOTAN as its content delivery platform at launch in the UK.

"nGame has consistently been a leader in offering innovative services for the wireless Internet, and is committed to providing the best micro-Java games and entertainments to users all over the world," said nGame CEO, John Brimacombe. "We are extremely excited to be working with T-Mobile on this project, and delighted that they are launching their micro-Java service primarily with nGame titles. We are working with developers based throughout the world - in the UK, America, India, and Korea, to name but a few - and this deal enables us to bring the best of their games, as well as our own titles, to both European and North American consumers. This is by far the largest and most significant content deal yet seen anywhere in the mobile games industry."

"WOTAN is nGame's next generation enterprise-level platform for delivering mobile entertainment content," said nGame CTO, Dave Lloyd. "We are very pleased that this will be the first ever live deployment of a vending machine for micro-Java games. nGame QuickStart is as simple to use as a real-world vending machine, making the dispensing of Java games simple, easy and immediate. We are extremely pleased to have nGame QuickStart received so well, and delighted that T-Mobile users will be the first to benefit from this experience. We look forward to exploring how our expertise and technology can help T-Mobile offer greater value, entertainment, and enjoyment to their customers worldwide."

SOURCE nGame Ltd Press Release Back to News Reports

NTT DoCoMo Unveils "i-shot" Service for New Camera-Equipped Mobile Phone Model (Back to News Reports)

TOKYO, JAPAN, May 29, 2002 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight subsidiaries announced today that they will introduce i-shotTM, a new service that allows users to transmit still images taken with " SH251i" mobile phones that feature built-in digital cameras. Both the new service, available throughout the nationwide PDC (800MHz)-based network area, and handsets will be launched on June 1, 2002. Photos taken with the SH251i can be sent as e-mail attachments (JPEG files up to 30Kb), which are transmitted via an "i-shot center." If the person receiving the images is an user, the i-shot center will assign a URL to the message for easy access to the photos. If the receiving party accesses e-mail via a PC or mobile phone of a different Japanese carrier, images are attached directly to the message. Digital photos can be edited prior to transmission. In addition, messages accompanying the photos can contain up to 100 Japanese characters (or 200 alphanumerics). The PDC-based circuit switched network used in conjunction with the i-shot service provides a more economical way to transmit large amounts of data, such as photos, compared to a packet network. There is no subscriber fee for the service itself, and users merely pay a transmission charge, which depends on the size of the data being sent and other conditions. The cost to transmit a photo via i-shot is approximately 10 yen or more. The cost for an i-mode user to receive a URL is 2-3 yen and approximately 17 yen to download a photo. NTT DoCoMo will sell the SH251i through all DoCoMo sales channels beginning June 1. DoCoMo regional subsidiaries will start selling the new handset later. The price for the mobile phone is open (unfixed), while the standard accessory kit, which includes battery pack, AC adapter and desktop holder, costs 6,300 yen.

Main Features of SH251i
i-shot and i-mode service compatible (i-mode service is optional)
Built-in 310,000 pixel CCD camera Embedded camera flash
Three-size image display:
"i-shot (S)"-120 (W) x120 (H) pixels or approx. 3-5Kb
"i-shot (L)"-288 (W) x 352 (H) pixels or approx. 15-20Kb stand-by screen-size-120 (W) x 160 (H) pixels (only
"i-shot (S)"and "i-shot (L)" images are transmittable through the i-shot service) 65,536 full-color embedded LCD (main display)
256 full-color embedded LCD (sub-display)
32-chord ringing tones and "hyper talk" (enhanced voice quality) function compatible

SOURCE NTT DoCoMo Press Release Back to News Reports

Virtual keyboard for mobile devices on the market from the fall of 2002
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Munich, May 28, 2002 - Siemens Procurement & Logistics Services (SPLS) will be the exclusive distributor in Germany of the ‘Virtual Keyboard’ developed by VKB Inc., USA, and will also handle sales throughout Europe. The device projects a keyboard onto any flat surface and makes it easy to enter text on a mobile phone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or PC. The virtual keyboard should be commercially available from the fall of 2002.

The virtual keyboard ushers in a new era of mobile communications: this device projects the image of a computer keyboard onto practically any flat surface. An infrared system senses the letters and numbers typed by the user and communicates them by wire or radio to a PDA, mobile phone or PC. This initially external solution is as easy to use as a conventional computer keyboard.

The virtual keyboard is based on a chipset that will also be easy to integrate directly into PDAs and mobile phones. “Now mobile phones or PDAs can at last also have a decent-sized keyboard,” explains Boaz Arnon, CEO of VKB Inc. “In this way the users can type in e-mails or long texts easily and effectively wherever they happen to be and can leave the laptop at home.” Arnon also predicts that it will for example be used in medical environments where physicians need sterile or mobile computers in operating theaters or at the patient’s bedside. “The virtual keyboard adds a new innovation to our range of mobile solutions,” says Asriel Eisinger, product manager at SPLS. “Together with various Siemens Groups we currently explore applications of this technology within the company.” The product was jointly introduced by Siemens and VKB at this year’s CeBIT.

SOURCE Siemens Press Release Back to News Reports

Hutchison3G announces its game plan for content (Back to News Reports)

London - 27 May 2002 - Hutchison 3G today announced partnerships with nine games development companies; iFone, It's Alive , Supedo , nGame, Codetoys, Simian Industries, Morpheme, Cheeky Wireless and Purple Software. Under these agreements a range of new and classic arcade style games, as well as traditional board and card games, will be available through Hutchison 3G's multimedia services later this year.

These agreements cover the supply of over forty games, to all international markets where Hutchison Whampoa has 3G interests. Many of the interactive games will be written and developed exclusively for Hutchison 3G; others will be improved versions of existing games.

Lisa Gernon, strategy and marketing director at Hutchison 3G commented: "3G offers an exciting new gaming platform for everyone's pocket. Hutchison 3G is focused on offering quality content in this new format and this is why we have carefully selected partners with the expertise and creativity to deliver compelling gaming experiences."

Joe Dever, head of games at Hutchison 3G, will be at E3, Los Angeles, 21-23 May 2002. If you would like to discuss any of the partnerships outlined above, or would like to arrange a meeting, please contact Firefly on hutchisonprteam@fireflycomms.com, or call +44 (0)20 7386 1595.

SOURCE Hutchison3G Press Release Back to News Reports

Motorola Researchers Demonstrate Technology That Will Support Future Wireless Broadband (Back to News Reports)

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., May 27, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ - New World-Class Channel Measurement System Deployed for 3G+ Multiple Antenna Technologies for Infrastructure and Handsets While 3G (third generation) wireless technology is just beginning to roll out in the wireless communications world, researchers at Motorola Labs are already researching potential technologies to significantly enhance the performance of 3G.

"3G standards are continuing to evolve as the industry moves through 3GPP Releases 4 and 5 and 3GPP2 technologies, such as 1xEVDV. Motorola and others are working on various approaches in order to determine optimum standards and system requirements, but one thing that is certain is that the technology needs to deliver higher data rates to the consumer at a lower cost per data bit," said Dennis Roberson, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Motorola, Inc (NYSE: MOT).

One technology that has been proposed for delivering that higher data rate at a lower per-bit cost is the use of multiple antennas for both the cellular site and handsets. Theoretically, multiple antennas have been shown to enable major increases in the data capacity, peak data rate and voice capacity. However, the actual achievable performance depends on the properties of the radio signal propagation environment. Accurate models that characterize the propagation environment are key to predicting the true channel capacity improvements.

Researchers at Motorola Labs have built and deployed a world-class measurement system that supports the study of such multiple antenna technologies for channel bandwidths of up to 5 MHz. They are also actively involved in the standards process for setting the channel models that will be used in determining which technologies will ultimately be written into the standards.

SOURCE Motorola Press Release Back to News Reports

Evolium SAS will offer the most advanced Software & Know-how to 3G/UMTS customers (Back to News Reports)

Paris, May 27, 2002 - Evolium SAS, the joint venture between Alcatel (66%) (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Fujitsu Limited (34%), announced today the signature of two license agreements with the Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo concerning Patents & Know-How and Software.

The Evolium SAS joint venture that has established a clear technology leadership in UMTS radio-access will benefit from the Software and the technology developed by NTT DoCoMo for its UMTS commercial network, which has been in service in Japan since May 2001, through a users license.

Evolium SAS’s engineers have been providing the adaptations required by the evolutions of the 3GPP standards and by its customers' specific requirements. The combination of the NTT DoCoMo technology and Evolium SAS work results in the most advanced Radio Access UMTS products currently implemented, delivering a commercial software release with the highest level of compliance. In addition, all interoperability tests have been performed between the Evolium (TM) UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) and Alcatel’s core circuit & packet network.

"Being able to bring together NTT DoCoMo’s know-how and experience is a key asset for Evolium SAS and its customers. Evolium is also glad to have come to an agreement with NTT DoCoMo on the use of its essential UMTS patents; this makes Evolium SAS the first major supplier allowed to develop, manufacture and commercialise the equipment for the deployment of 3G/UMTS networks nation-wide" declared Martin Jordy, CEO of Evolium SAS.

Hiroaki Takeichi Fujitsu Limited Board Member and Group President, Network Systems Group, commented: "Through Evolium SAS, and thanks to this licensing agreement with NTT DoCoMo, both Fujitsu and Alcatel can continue to enhance our leading-edge expertise and business opportunities in 3G mobile applications and services in partnership with mobile operators throughout the world."

Marc Rouanne, president of Alcatel's Mobile Networks activities added: "The quality of the FOMA services has really impressed all those who have gone to Japan, personally experiencing the thrill on location. Reminiscing the early days of GSM for example, we promote a phased approach towards UMTS and to be fair, nothing today can replace the field-experience of NTT DoCoMo. Having access to this know-how through Evolium SAS, helps us to understand the value of NTT DoCoMo’s achievements"

SOURCE Alcatel Press Release Back to News Reports