• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Pictures

Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

Pictures of the year: Technology

A look at the year's best science and technology photos.   Slideshow 

    Google ties up with Japan's DoCoMo to grow abroad

    Yoko Kubota
    TOKYO
    Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:52am EST

    Stocks

       

    TOKYO (Reuters) - Google Inc's (GOOG.O) search engine will feature on NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T) handsets, giving it access to 48 million new mobile Internet users in Japan in its push for overseas growth.

    Technology  |  Stocks

    DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile operator, said on Thursday the tie-up on Internet searches, e-mail and other services, will help it retain users in a competitive market and raise advertisement revenue while cutting development costs.

    The two firms, which also plan to launch a Linux-based mobile handset in Japan, aim to reap joint advertising revenues of 10 billion yen "as soon as possible," they said, without disclosing how they plan to split revenues.

    "Japan's mobile Internet services lead the world," DoCoMo senior Vice President Takeshi Natsuno said at a news conference. "It's no wonder that big U.S. companies are paying attention to Japan."

    Google has already partnered with Japan's No. 2 mobile phone company KDDI Corp (9433.T). DoCoMo and KDDI together control over 80 percent of Japan's mobile market.

    Cheaper data-transmission charges are prompting mobile operators to team up with search engines, rather than developing content on their own.

    Softbank Corp (9984.T), the No. 3 mobile phone company, works with Yahoo Japan Corp (4689.T), in which Softbank holds a 40 percent stake.

    Under Thursday's agreement, DoCoMo handsets will provide Google search results for mobile and PC Websites via the top-page of its Internet portal site.

    The two firms will discuss ways to make it easier for DoCoMo users to access Gmail, the video-sharing site YouTube, and Picasa Web albums, they said.

    Shares of DoCoMo closed up 3.2 percent at 161,000 yen, compared with a 2.1 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei .N225.

    (Additional reporting, writing by Mayumi Negishi)
    Technology
    Stocks


    More from Reuters

    Joint Terminal Attack Controller SSgt Clinton J. Herbison, a U.S. Airman from the 817 Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron (EASOS) takes a break during a night mission near Honaker Miracle camp at the Pesh valley of Kunar Province August 12, 2009. Credit: REUTERS/Carlos Barria

    Pictures of the Year

    A look at the best photos of 2009.  Slideshow 

      PICTURES
      The Dalai Lama jokes with a nasal spray after being asked his opinion on the swine flu during a press conference after his first lecture in Lausanne, Switzerland, August 4, 2009. REUTERS/ Valentin Flauraud

      What a wacky year it's been...

      Um, what's up the Dalai Lama's nose? "Oddly Enough" editor Bob Basler rounds up the goofiest photos of the year.  Full Article 

      Oddly Enough
      A caution sign is seen next to a stock board at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Sydney September 5, 2008. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz
      Political Risk in 2010:

      Don't say we didn't warn you

      With the financial crisis (mostly) in the past, U.S. investors are eying a fresh start to the coming year. Here's a look at what speedbumps lie ahead.  Full Article 

      Global Markets