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mitsubishi posts

Mitsubishi tapping out of the phone market? UPDATE: Yeah

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 2nd 2008 @ 8:16PM

A lot of readers might be surprised to learn that Mitsubishi even makes cellphones, but yeah, it sure does. Its domestic Japanese market has typically been the recipient of its impressive wares, selling models on NTT DoCoMo using the "D" model name prefix -- but maybe not for much longer. Nikkei is throwing out some rumors today that Mitsu will be exiting the dog-eat-dog cellphone manufacturing biz and possibly doing so very swiftly, even withdrawing models due to hit DoCoMo in the next few weeks. Despite raking in over 100 billion yen (about $958M) annually from its mobile division alone, the company has apparently been unable to make it profitable and recently downgraded its handset sales forecast for the current fiscal year. Frankly, we wish Mitsu had sold enough handsets abroad for us to be really upset about this. Nikkei says an official announcement could come as soon as today, so we'll update you when we know more.

[Thanks, rinse]

Update: Nikkei was dead on. Mitsubishi has just announced that it is ending its cellphone manufacturing business, a venture that goes back some 25 years with the introduction of car phones on NTT's network. For what it's worth, the company says that it'll continue to support its devices and move the 600-odd employees in the business to other parts of the company. It also says that it will "work to maintain and further strengthen the partnership with NTT DoCoMo through the communication related business [it aims] to expand," so don't get too teary-eyed, DoCoMo. Hit the link for the official release.

NTT DoCoMo's Winter 2007 lineup: the 905i series

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 12th 2007 @ 3:44PM

We started with the weaklings in NTT DoCoMo's latest round (and we use that term very loosely), so now it's time for the powerhouses. The 905i range is loosely bound by a general rule thrown down by the carrier: 3 inch wide VGA display, minimum (with one exception, and even that model still puts up WVGA resolution). That's the kind of rule we can definitely live with. Follow the break for the full breakdown.

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo's Winter 2007 lineup: the 905i series

Mitsubishi D905i for NTT DoCoMo caught on camera

by Michael Caputo posted Sep 17th 2007 @ 11:39PM

Mitsubishi's latest addition to NTT DoCoMo's high-end 905i series has us drooling. It sports an expansive 3.1-inch WVGA display (894 x 480 resolution, to be exact), a 3.2 megapixel CCD shooter with autofocus, expandable memory via microSD, and tweaks to the software to enable mobile TV, MSN messenger, and HTML emails round out the feature set. Pricing and release date are unknown, but we're guessing those key figures will turn up shortly.

NTT DoCoMo rolls out 704i series

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 5th 2007 @ 8:39AM

Here it is, a moment that is both dreaded and eagerly anticipated by phone journalists across the land: the release of a new handset series by NTT DoCoMo. This particular flock belongs to the FOMA 704i line, offering three sliders and five flips for a grand total of eight lovely devices. The massive release is nothing out of the ordinary for a Japanese carrier -- they tend to do this with shocking frequency, in fact -- but what is surprising is that this particular lineup offers an LG phone, cementing Korea's ever-increasing presence in the launches. Click on for all the gory details!

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo rolls out 704i series

NTT DoCoMo rolls out ten phones; in other news, sky is blue

by Chris Ziegler posted Jan 16th 2007 @ 1:00PM

We think we've finally ceased to be amazed when Japan's NTT DoCoMo drops some endless array of new phones on its domestic market. Sure, the latest gaggle -- which includes the multi-manufacturer 703i series, the SO903iTV from Sony Ericsson, and the D800iS from Mitsubishi -- holds a number of claims to fame, but we're trying our darndest to stand firm in our commitment to remain unmoved by the torrent of Far East-style technology. The 703i variants from NEC and Panasonic, denoted with a "μ" on the ends of their model numbers, are said to be the thinnest WCDMA handsets in the world at 11.4 millimeters, the D800iS includes a second display in place of the keypad for handwriting recognition and various "ooh, aah" kinds of functionality, and the Bravia-branded SO903iTV rocks 1seg for mobile TV reception. We have to admit, our resolve is wearing a bit thin here; anyone care to fly us out to Japan?

Falling birth rates? NTT DoCoMo has the answer

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 30th 2006 @ 2:43PM

If there's two thing we know Japan has, it's a steadily declining birth rate and insanely advanced mobile technology. Doesn't it seem like one could be used to solve the other? (No?) Leave it to the good folks at NTT DoCoMo to have a crack at it, releasing the new D702iF FOMA clamshell from Mitsubishi. It seems innocent enough, but a few keystrokes allows the user to track his or her (hopefully her) menstrual cycle and be notified during the most fertile times of the month. The somewhat unusual function, along with the phone's bullet-shaped design and pastel colors, are the brainchild of Japanese designer Momoko Ikuta. The decidedly feminine phone also features a built-in recipe database (which we hear features a mean white bean chicken chili) and a "camouflage melody" function -- a fancy way of describing a fake ring for those times when you want to completely ignore the people around you.

[Via CNET]

NTT DoCoMo shows slew of new phones

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 12th 2006 @ 5:32PM

At this point, we're beginning to wonder whether NTT DoCoMo can keep track of its own lineup, let alone its customers -- because we sure as heck can't. They've gone ahead and announced a mind-boggling eleven new handsets this week, all members of the new FOMA 903i series. The members of the series include entries from NEC, Sharp, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, and Sony Ericsson, with three (the D903iTV, P903iTV, and SH903iTV) supporting digital television, and another two rocking HSDPA. Interestingly, Panasonic's P903i supports a new security mechanism that's capable of locking the phone when it's taken a certain distance from an RFID card stored in the owner's wallet, handbag, or clothing -- while it won't prevent your phone from being stolen, it's not a bad idea for stopping the baddies from placing international calls on it.

Read - NTT DoCoMo 903i product page (translated)
Read - New Scientist

Mitsubishi's Symbian-powered D702iBCL for NTT DoCoMo

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 5th 2006 @ 1:00PM

Fashion phones not your cup of tea? Looking for something a little more business oriented perhaps? NTT DoCoMo has you covered with their D702iBCL FOMA smartphone, brought to you by the good folks at Mitsubishi. The D702iBCL sports NTT's MOAP (Moblie Oriented Applications Platform) UI sitting atop Symbian 8.1 along with a QVGA display, all while coming in at a relatively sprightly 130 x 47 x 16.8mm and 97g. A camera is conspicuously missing, but being that this is a business phone, that's just as well.

NTT DoCoMo adds six to endless array of FOMA choices

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 4th 2006 @ 2:51PM

NTT DoCoMo -- in an apparent bid to not just out-do, but humiliate the rest of the world's carriers -- has dropped yet another six 3G flips on its home crowd. The new handsets are part of NTT's "7 Series" of fashion-oriented phones, and include entries from Mitsubishi, Panasonic, NEC, Motorola, and Sharp. Moto has actually contributed two models here, one in the V3x vein and the other apparently a let's-see-how-long-we-can-milk-this port of the original V3. All six of the phones support the typical i-mode goodness, FOMA, video calling, and an array of functions that sound like science fiction to the non-Japanese among us.

Mitsubishi's D902iS slider for NTT DoCoMo

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 29th 2006 @ 6:15PM

To the rest of the world, the D902iS is a ridiculously high-end object of desire -- but to Japan, what we have here is just another FOMA slider. The phone, slapped together by Mitsubishi for NTT DoCoMo, packs virtually every feature you can imagine into its 110 x 49 x 19.9mm chassis: 400 x 240 display (for when QVGA just isn't good enough and VGA is a little too much), 4 megapixel camera with MP4 video recording, MinSD slot, and full web browsing at a nice WCDMA clip of 384kbps. Heck, you even get a PDF reader. To boot, the menus are some of the most beautiful we've ever seen on any phone. Our Japanese readers probably got bored halfway through this post while the rest of you are drooling uncontrollably, and you can keep on drooling, folks -- we don't expect this one outside Japan.

[Via Mobile Magazine]