Emobile's Representative Director, Chairman and CEO Sachio Semmoto
Emobile's "S11HT" (right) and "H11T" (left) handsets, featuring phone functionality
The "H11T" manufactured by Toshiba. It features 1seg functionality.
The Li-ion secondary battery embedded in the H11T. Its capability is 800mAh.
Emobile Ltd has announced it will start its voice call service on March 28, 2008. Providing a plan with no monthly fee, the company highlighted lower fees of the voice call service, in comparison with other mobile phone carriers.
Emobile is expecting this service to be applied to "the second handset" for calls to specific persons such as family members and friends.
At the beginning of the press conference, Emobile's representative director, chairman and CEO Sachio Semmoto said, "Other fee plans (that have been provided by other carriers thus far) always included monthly fees (for voice calls) and consumers had to pay expensive monthly fees to get lower rates," casting doubt on the current fee system.
The "Mobile Phone Plan," Emobile's basic voice call plan, charges no monthly fee for the phone service. Within the company's phone service areas, the rate is set at ¥18.9 (US$0.18) per 30 seconds no matter what mobile phone carrier the receiver is using. However, data communications are charged additionally.
Monthly fee for data communications is ¥1,000 (including 23,825 packets). Maximum charge for data communications is ¥4,980 including the monthly fee. Short message service (SMS) between Emobile handsets is charged ¥2.1 per message.
As an optional service pack, the company provides "Flat Rate Pack 24," which allows 24 hours of free calls between Emobile handsets for a monthly fee of ¥980. This service pack also allows free SMS between Emobile handsets, calls to other carriers and PHS handsets at ¥9.45 per 30 seconds and calls to fixed and IP phones at ¥5.25 per 30 seconds.
In addition, the "Mobile Phone Plan Data Set" lets customers that contract Emobile's "data card" or "EM-ONE" services when purchasing the handsets to start using the phone service from a monthly charge of zero yen.
Despite these low fees, Emobile's CEO Semmoto expressed his bullish view, saying, "We can still generate profits."
Along with the phone service, Emobile will release two models of mobile phone handsets supporting voice calls. They are the "S11HT" dubbed "EMONSTER," a product manufactured by High Tech Computer Corp (HTC) of Taiwan, and the "H11T" manufactured by Toshiba Corp. Both handsets support HSDPA and achieve maximum downloading at 3.6Mbps.
The S11HT is a smartphone equipped with a QWERTY keyboard. It features a 2.8-inch QVGA (320 x 240) resolution LCD panel with a built-in touch sensor as its display. As Apple Inc's "iPhone," users can operate the phone by touching icons on the screen with a finger. The keyboard appears if the LCD panel unit is slid aside.
The S11HT's OS is "Windows Mobile 6." It can be used to browse data files in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF formats. Its CMOS camera has 3-Mpixel effective resolution. The smartphone features wireless LAN (IEEE802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and GPS capabilities as well. Its built-in Li-ion secondary battery's capacity is 1,350mAh. Dimensions are 112 x 59 x 19mm and the weight is about 190g.
The H11T features a 400 x 240 (wide QVGA) resolution LCD panel as its main display and a 96 x 39 resolution monochrome OLED panel as its sub-display. Its CMOS camera has 3.2-Mpixel effective resolution. It also includes a 1seg tuner. Its built-in Li-ion secondary battery's capacity is 800mAh. It measures 50 x 104 x 17.9mm and weighs approximately 130g.
Emobile will start receiving advance orders for both models on March 1, 2008. The handsets will be primarily sold through volume electronics retailers and Embile's Website. The cost for the S11HT is ¥67,980 and the H11T is ¥57,980, when purchased with the "Basic" plan.
With the "Gokanyu Assist Ninen (Initial Assist Two-Year)" plan, which allows the handset to be purchased in installments, the cost for the S11HT is ¥19,980 and the H11T is ¥9,980. This plan requires a two-year subscription, during which subscribers pay an installment of ¥1,000 every month in addition to the service fees.
Emobile refrained from revealing its specific sales goals.
Nikkei Electronics Asia magazine is available each month free of charge to engineers, managers and other qualified readers.
Nikkei Electronics |
Nikkei Monozukuri |
Nikkei Microdevices |
Nikkei Automotive Technology |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The magazine for electronics designers and managers. | Design You Won't Regret - How to Reduce the Risk of Accidents | The most comprehensive technical journal for makers and users of LSIs and LCDs. | The comprehensive automotive technology magazine. |
Copyright © 1995-2009 Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
All editorial content and graphics on this Web site may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express permission of the copyright owner.
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009