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It also uses broadcasting air
waves, rather than an Internet
connection, to relay streaming
video.
Although
South Korea has offered the
service since the end of last
year, Japan is a frontrunner
in the new technology, popularly
known as 'One Seg,' after 'One
Segment.'
One
Seg takes its name from the
one frequency segment out of
13 allocated to terrestrial
digital broadcasting that is
reserved for mobile phones.
Users
with a TV tuner-equipped cell
phones, car navigation systems
and portable game players will
be able to watch the broadcasts
free of charge.
If
one considers how embedded mobiles
are in Japanese life, the service
has the potential to be the
biggest of its kind in the world,
by reaching more subscribers
than in any other country.
Handsets
have been on the market in Japan
for several weeks that are equipped
with the service, which can
also broadcast programmes onto
laptop computers, high-end video-game
machines and other terminals.
Mobile
operators have lined up agreements
with television networks to
develop the service. NTT DoCoMo
has tied up with Nippon Television
and Fuji Television. DoCoMo's
main rival, KDDI, has forged
a partnership with TV Asahi.
Kazunori
Higuchi, a spokesman for NTT,
describing how the service works,
was quoted in Japan Times as
saying: "A viewer is watching
a drama and decides she likes
the dress the lead actress is
wearing. At the bottom of the
screen is a link to an online
shopping mall. She clicks on
the link and buys the dress.
Or maybe she just likes the
show's catchy theme song and
downloads a ring tone of the
opening bars."
One
major drawback that may hold
back the penetration of the
service in Japan though, is
that handsets with tuners are
still scarce and expensive.
Japan
has 90 million mobile phone
users who already play video
games, download music files,
exchange e-mail, read news,
trade stocks, store digital
photos and surf the Web.
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