| |
Table of Contents:
|
| |
Exchange
Rate as of August 9, 2000
$1 US = 108.65 Yen
1 NIS= 26.71 Yen
|
| |
Finanacial
News
|
| |
|
|
•
|
NOMURA R&A ESTABLISHES VC FUND
Nomura Research & Advisory established
a VC fund that will invest in Japanese Internet and communications
start-ups.
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
General
Technology News |
• |
NTT DOCOCOMO TEAMS UP WITH AOL AND SONY
NTT
DoCoMo American Online agreed to jointly develop wireless
Internet services in Japan. Under the deal, AOL Japan will
become DoCoMo’s exclusive fixed-line ISP and receive preferential
treatment on DoCoMo’s I-mode service.
In
a separate partnership, NTT DoCoMo entered into an agreement
with Sony.. The two companies plan to develop services that
combine NTT DoCoMo’s I-mode technology with Sony’s Playstation
consoles.
|
| |
| • |
LINUX
MAKES UP 4 PERCENT OF JAPANESE SERVER OS MARKET
According
to a study by IDC Japan, Linux made up 4%, of the server market
in Japan, a 32 % increase from last year. IDC predicts that
Linux as a server OS will comprise 12% of the market share
by 2004. Currently, Windows NT has about 82% of the market
and UNIX accounts for 10%.
|
| |
|
| • |
NTT
DOCOMO I-MODE SUBSCRIBERS TOP 10 MILLION
There are almost 10 million subscribers to NTT DoCoMo’s I-mode
service about 2.5x that of the 3.8 million subscribers to Japan’s
largest PC-based ISP, Nifty. DoCoMo claims that it receives
about 40k-50k new subscribers a day.
|
| |
| • |
JAPAN
HAS 20 MILLION INTERNET USERS
According
to AC Nielson there are over 20 million, 17% of Japan’s population,
Internet users in Japan as of June 2000. Of those 20 million
about 12 million are men and 8 million are women.
|
| |
| • |
CATV
IS JAPANS LEADING FIXED RATE CONNECTION SERVICE
According
to Japan’s Ministry of Posts & telecommunications (MPT)
the total number of Japanese subscribers to CATV Internet-access
service is 329K households. This makes CATV the leading service
to connect to the Internet for as long as the user wants to
at a fixed monthly rate. Other services such as ADSL and ISDN
are also expanding their user base.
|
| |
| • |
SONY
PLAYSTAION2 SHIPS 3 MILLION UNITS IN JAPAN ALONE
Sony
shipped 3 million units of its Playstation2 within five months
of its launching.
|
| |
| • |
JAPANESE
INTERENT USERS WANT MORE ONLINE MEDICAL SERVICES
According
to the Japan Information Processing Development Center Japanese
Internet users want more online medical services such as information
on hospitals and medical treatments. |
| |
•
|
E-COMMERCE
IN JAPAN TO GROW 228 PERCENT IN FY 2000
According to a survey conducted by Japanese newspaper
Nihon Keizai Shimbun the online sales of goods and services
is estimated to grow 228% in FY 2000. Leading the way are
retailers of consumer electronics and PCs.
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
NEW
TECHNOLOGIES |
| |
|
|
•
|
TOSHIBA TO INTRODUCE BLUETOOTH PC
Toshiba
has developed a laptop computer which is compliant with the
Bluetooth wireless communications standard. This computer
enables transmission of video and music to up to seven PCs,
cell phones and other communications terminals within a radius
of 10m.
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
LIFE
SCIENCES |
| |
|
|
•
|
ITOCHU ESTABLISHES BIOTECH FUND
Itochu
Corporation plans to set up a fund to invest in about 20-30
biotech start-ups developing and manufacturing equipment for
genetic analysis and other research devices. The fund is estimated
to be valued between $50 million-$100 million.
|
| |
|
