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Technology Stocks : Bluetooth: from RF semiconductors to softw. applications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mats Ericsson who wrote (156)	2/22/2000 5:59:00 AM
From: Mats Ericsson	Respond to of 322

Psion, IBM, Nokia, others to develop universal data synchronisation standard 22 Feb 11:10 (You see, this has something to do with XML-language too, ...Yes Motorola and Starfish are there by suprize, where is Ericsson!? ....married to Microsoft??) LONDON (AFX) - A group of IT and telecommunications companies, including Psion PLC, IBM Corp and Nokia have agreed to join forces to develop a universal data synchronisation standard for remote data and personal information across multiple networks, platforms and devices such as latptop computers and mobile phones. The SyncML initiative, which also includes Lotus, Motorola, Palm and Starfish Software, will aim to create interoperable wireless and wireline data synchronization products across corporate servers, Web servers, computers, laptops, PDAs, handheld computers, mobile phones and other mobile devices, regardless of platform or manufacturer, a joint statement said. Currently, data synchronisation is based on multiple sets of different protocols, each one functioning with a limited number of data types, devices or systems. The initiative will lead to personal and enterprise information, including email, calendars, to-do lists, contact information, being accessible and up to date regardless of where the information is stored, giving users unmatched flexibility in the device they select to use while on the move.

To: Mats Ericsson who wrote (156)	2/22/2000 6:05:00 AM
From: Mats Ericsson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 322

NTT DoCoMo's i-mode Draws 4.2 Mln Users in 1st Year Tokyo, Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) (It's big growth out there :-) NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. said its i-mode service, which provides Internet access through mobile phones, has drawn 4.2 million subscribers in its first year, topping expectations and fueling a stock price surge that has made the company Japan's biggest in market value. Putting i-mode's growth in perspective, Sony Corp., the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker, sold 2.7 million PlayStation video-game consoles, or 225,000 a month, in the first year after its introduction in Japan in December 1994. NTT DoCoMo, as the company is better known, had said it expected 3 million users by now. It has added 350,000 customers a month, or more than 11,500 a day. DoCoMo said it expects almost 5 million users by the end of next month. DoCoMo has 29.4 million subscribers in all, making it the world's second-largest mobile-phone company. Since i-mode's debut last February, NTT DoCoMo's shares have risen almost four-fold, giving the company a market value of 34.6 trillion yen, ($310 billion), greater than that of No. 2 Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., DoCoMo's parent. ''The expansion of the i-mode service has been much faster than I had expected,'' said Hironori Tanaka, a Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Ltd. analyst. NTT DoCoMo shares fell 100,000 yen to 3.64 million yen today. They're down 8.1 percent so far this year. Games and Music The i-mode service, currently offered only by DoCoMo and only in Japan, allows mobile phone users constant access to the Internet, eliminating the need for a service provider. That means users are able to send and receive e-mail and browse certain Web sites without logging on to a computer. The i-mode service also enables subscribers to access a limited number of online services like ticket reservations and banking. NTT DoCoMo charges 300 yen ($3) per month for the service. Most popular among content offerings include games provided by game makers Bandai Co. and Sega Enterprises Ltd. Bandai provides users with the ability to access static images and even play a quiz game on their cellular phone displays. Sega allows users to download music, which can be played to signal the arrival of incoming calls. The growth of i-mode has coincided with Japan's awakening to the Internet. The number of Internet users in Japan reached 18.3 million in December from 14.3 million a year earlier, according to Access Media International, a research firm specializing in the Internet. In 1997, that figure was 8.8 million. Challenges to Come Still, past accomplishments don't assure future success. Analysts say Vodafone AirTouch Plc. of the U.K. may challenge DoCoMo with a service similar to i-mode. Vodafone AirTouch earlier this month agreed to buy Mannesmann AG for $204 billion in stock, creating the world's largest mobile phone company. The agreement gives the new Vodafone 42 million customers. ''If Vodafone tries to expand mobile Internet services similar to i-mode, and uses other standards, like WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), then it could be a threat to DoCoMo because Vodafone now has a much larger user base,'' said Hironobu Sawake, a senior analyst at ING Baring Securities (Japan) Ltd. ''DoCoMo's i-mode isn't based on the global standard