NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and SoftBank have created the “Japan Mobile NFC Consortium,” which will help the three carriers coordinate and adopt an international NFC standard. Currently, all three operators offer an NFC service dubbed Osaifu-Keitai (wallet phone) which uses a contactless-IC smartcard that’s called FeliCa. Unfortunately, the technology doesn’t work overseas where other carriers use Type A or Type B NFC standards, which means Osaifu-Ketai won’t function properly for NTT DoCoM...

Immediately following news that Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” has been released to manufacturers, Toshiba-Fujitsu became the first vendor in the world to announce a Mango phone. The stylish smartphone will launch with a less-than-memorable IS12T moniker in September, and it will be a KDDI exclusive in Japan at that time. Beyond being the first Mango phone announced, the IS12T will also be the first Windows Phone-powered smartphone to launch in Japan. Spec highlights include a 3.7-inch WVGA display, a ...

In a world where BlackBerry, Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile and webOS dominate the mobile OS space, it’s been tough for LiMo to get a little love. Sure Android and webOS are Linux-based, but it’s just not the same. In an interesting move, Panasonic and NEC have chosen to go with LiMo — unveiling nine new devices that will feature the open-source operating system. Japanese mobile carrier KDDI and touchscreen company Immersion Corp are teaming up for the project but LiMo is hoping to...