It doesn't take a finance major to figure out these two things are correlated, but yes, the fact that NTT DoCoMo saw profits increase some 41% while handset sales across Japan plummeted 20% do in fact have a common link. You see, DoCoMo (among others) has decided to lower rates and reduce subsidies in order to better exploit market conditions; the end result is that consumers are buying new handsets less often, leading to decreased sales for firms like Sharp and Matsushita. Many analysts are suggesting that some of the smaller outfits are likely to band together in an attempt to take on the new market, with IDC analyst Michito Kimura proclaiming that Japan would have "fewer mobile phone makers, fewer handset sales agents and fewer cellphone models." Hard to say if that's a net positive or negative just yet, but it should be interesting to watch, regardless.

[Via mocoNews, image courtesy of Flickr]

If the Arc's a little too rich for your blood, Virgin Mobile's gone ahead and released another handset this week that should fit the bill nicely. The TNT! is a Kyocera-sourced flip with a color primary display, banner-style monochrome secondary display, speakerphone, basic web access, and not much else -- but if you're just looking for a way to blow through some of those prepaid minutes you've got lying around, that's pretty much all you need. It's available now for $19.99.

[Thanks, Mike]

In Japan, carriers tend to release new models in giant, blockbuster batches -- seasonal "collections" that leave the rest of the world green with envy. KDDI au is no exception, having just announced its predictably spectacular Summer 2008 lineup with entrants from Kyocera, Sony Ericsson, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, Casio, and Korea's Pantech. Here's the rundown:

• Hitachi Wooo W62H. KDDI is emphasizing this one's video and 3D gaming capabilities, both of which are assisted by the presence of a 2-way hinge for flipping out the screen in a landscape orientation. Comes in blue, silver, and black.
• Sharp W62SH. The FM transmitter's kinda cool, and the three-inch WVGA screen should be perfect for watching Spiderman 2, which comes bundled with the phone. Purple, white, and gold are the color choices.
• Sanyo W63SA. Global CDMA roaming and an integrated English-Japanese dictionary makes this one a solid choice for world travelers. Get this one in red, silver, or black.
• Toshiba Sportio. As the name implies, this one's all about burnin' those calories with an integrated calorie counter. The candybar form factor is a refreshing change of pace in the lineup, but too bad about that QVGA display! Five colors to choose from here: orange, black, white, green, and red.
• Casio G'zOne W62CA. Like its counterparts on Verizon, the W62CA is designed to take a beating without falling apart. It's impact resistant and waterproof, features a compass, thermometer, and GPS, and naturally, one-seg TV. Get it in green, black, or white.
• Sanyo W64SA. This fashionable flip has some crazy light effects to go along with its crazy selection of colors, but other than that, it seems pretty pedestrian. If you can call a 2.8-inch WVGA display "pedestrian." It's available in pink, white, yellow, and black.
• Sony Ericsson Full Change re. The WQVGA display is one metric ton of weak sauce, but as the "Full Change" name suggests, five individual pieces can be removed from the front, back, and top of the phone to create a totally customized handset. Shell choices include white, pink, green, orange, and silver.
• Toshiba W62T. Seriously, what's up with all this WQVGA garbage? The W62T appears destined for the midrange, though the 3.2 megapixel camera ain't bad. Colors for this one are gold, pink, and black.
• Kyocera W64K. Possibly leading up the bottom end of the collection, the W64K rocks a WQVGA display and a weak 2 megapixel cam. We see "basic capabilities" mentioned a couple times in the translated description for it, so that says pretty much all we need to know. Pink and gold are the only color options here.
• Kyocera W62K. Whoa, and we thought the W64K was low end! 1.3 megapixel cam, QVGA (yeah, that's right, QVGA, not WQVGA) display. 'Nuff said. Beige, blue, and black are the choices here.
• Kyocera W63K. The W63K candybar is just 10.8mm thick, but we're still not sure that we can forgive it for a meager 1.3 megapixel camera. Kyocera's seriously dragging here, in case you haven't noticed the trend. Black, burgundy, and beige.
• Pantech W62PT. The only phone in the lineup sourced from a non-Japanese manufacturer, the Pantech's nothing to get too excited about with a QVGA display, but the presence of quick dial buttons directly below the screen indicates that this one's designed for folks that are looking for a simple, easy-to-use phone that's just enough to make voice calls -- and ironically, it's still better than a good percentage of the phones you'll find elsewhere in the world. It'll come in silver, gold, and pink.

Not a bad showing, especially considering that KDDI au stands out as Japan's major CDMA carrier in a country dominated by FOMA. Get 'em while they're hot, folks -- you know it's just a few months before the next collection debuts!

"Kyocera" and "GSM" are two words we're not used to putting in the same sentence, but we're going to have to start warming up to it now that the company has come rolling into CTIA with a full fleet of four GSM devices. Both its GSM and CDMA lineups here range from the very low end to the midrange; nothing terribly exciting, though the E3500 clamshell features a pretty familiar RAZR 2-esque design on the outside (complete with music controls) while managing to push the price point considerably lower -- of course, one only need open it up and glance at the size of the screen to see where the costs were cut.

Over on the CDMA side, we handled a limited edition Wild Card for Virgin -- not bad at all -- but the real draw here has to be the Neo E1100 with its "light-pipe" down the front. It's extremely difficult to show it off in pictures, but trust us, it works, and it's bright. Obviously it's a gimmick more than anything else, but rest assured, if your E1100 is sitting across the room on silent, you'll definitely know when you're getting a call.

ZTE isn't the only handset maker showing off AWS-friendly mobiles at CTIA, as Kyocera is making a similar splash with three new CDMA devices. Kicking things off is the Neo E1100, which boasts a 2.2-inch QVGA display, Bluetooth 2.0, 1.3-megapixel camera and a hidden OLED for Caller ID. Moving on, we've got the low-end Mako S400 clamshell, which touts a 1.8-inch screen, VGA camera, BT and a "large, graduated keypad." Rounding out the CDMA line is the Adreno S2400, which rocks a clamshell design, 1.8-inch LCD and a few other forgettable inclusions. Over on the GSM side, we're lookin' at the multimedia-lovin' E4600 slider, E3500 clamshell, E2500 candybar and the el cheapo S1600. Be sure and scrutinize those read links for more details on the whole lot, but don't expect to find any pricing info just yet.

Read - Kyocera Wireless Reveals Stylish CDMA Handsets at CTIA Wireless 2008
Read - Kyocera Wireless Makes Strategic Jump Into GSM Handset Market

Here's a deal that's pretty tough to beat, Cricket is offering unlimited EVDO Rev. 0 data for only $35 -- after discount -- a month. What do you need to get yourself signed up you ask? The Kyocera KPC650 data card which will set you back $59 after various deals and rebates, willingness to shell out $35 beans for all you can chew data, and a willingness to not sign a contract. Fair, no? Of course, the service's footprint is really limited right now, so if you don't live in Nashville, Spokane, the Central Valley of California, Santa Fe / Albuquerque, or Portland, you can ignore this article. If anybody out there is already hooked up with this seemingly reasonable offer, drop us a line and let us know if you've found any snags. Here's hoping the market expands, really soon now.

[Via Gearlog]

Worn down by a brutally competitive local market dominated by cheaper handsets from both domestic and larger foreign manufacturers, Kyocera's throwing in the towel and leaving the Chinese market behind. President Makoto Kawamura revealed that its Chinese phone business, a joint venture with a local manufacturing firm, has lost between ¥700 and ¥800 million (about $6.55 to $7.49 million) every year since its inception in 2001, so it's giving up to concentrate on the Japanese and North American markets along with its shiny new acquisition from Sanyo. Pulling out ain't cheap, though: the company is ceding 45 percent of its 70 percent joint venture stake back to the manufacturer, the remainder to a Hong Kong-based company, and writing off about ¥850 million ($7.96 million) in debt. Maybe they'd have fared better making fake Touches? We're just throwing out ideas here.

Yes, friends, the time has come once again for Japan's carriers to upheave their still-fresh lineups and replace them with even fresher ones. Here we take a look at KDDI au's just-announced Spring '08 collection, including a model with an e-ink display and another with a 3 inch OLED. Wowza! Note that not all of these handsets are new -- some are carryovers from the carrier's Winter '07 collection, so we won't be covering those here. Read on.

Check it, Willcom faithful. Two new candybar-styled handsets have emerged for your carrier of choice, and we must say, we're pretty envious. Up first is the Kyocera WX330K (or Honey Bee, as we prefer), which checks in at 42- x 120- x 9.9-millimeters, is available in five different hues and features a two-inch QVGA display, Opera 7.2 browser, IrDA and an eye-catching Call button (of all things). Next up is the elusive X Plate, a 64-gram sophisticated toy that boasts a 1.8-inch LCD along with Java and Flash support. Plenty of pics waiting in the links below, so go on, take a peek at what America's missing out on.

Read - Kyocera WX330K
Read - X Plate

Sanyo just made official what's been rumored since August: the sale of its troubled cellphone division to Kyocera. The deal is set for completion on April 1st at a value of about $350 million. The deal involves about 2,000 employees moving from Sanyo's mobile phone operation to Kyocera where they can reminisce with ex-Qualcommers about the good ol' days.

Still waiting around to hop on the Rev. A highway? Although last week would've been a swell time to do so, now's not too bad either, and Verizon Wireless customers have yet another option at their fingertips. The Kyocera KPC680 ExpressCard is available now for anyone interested, and enables BroadbandAccess users to reach average download speeds of 600kbps to 1.4Mbps and upload speeds that range from 500kbps to 800kbps when situated in a Rev. A area. Additionally, this thing sports a "breakthrough" (ahem) antenna design that "moves the antenna away from the device as it is opened, providing greater sensitivity, dual external antenna ports for signal flexibility and a compact form factor." Get yours now for just $49.99 after a mail-in rebate and throwing your John Hancock on a two-year agreement.

It's that time of year again -- that magical time when Japanese carriers pull out all the stops and deliver a mind-numbing swath of new models at once. KDDI au's rocking seven all-new models for its fall / winter '07 collection, perhaps most notably the Infobar 2 candybar that bubbled out of its ongoing concept design program. All told, we have entries from six manufacturers here spanning the candybar, slider, and clamshell (naturally) form factors, so it pretty much goes without saying that KDDI customers should have no trouble finding the phone of their dreams in this motherlode. Forge on for a closer look at each of the new models.

Virgin Mobile is officially dipping its toes into smartphone water with its latest offering, the Kyocera Wild Card. Of course, how deep into that particular pool both companies are going is a question for the ages. The Wild Card isn't exactly the most robust phone you'll ever get your hands on, though the flip-phone does offer a QWERTY keypad, dual screens, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth integration, and a WAP browser. The hitch is that you'll have to view that browser on a 128 x 160 screen, which is painfully, embarrassingly small -- though they do throw in Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man to keep you distracted. Hey, for a price point of $99, you could do way, way worse. The phone is available now from your friendly neighborhood Virgin Mobile dealer.

Cricket customers can now pick up Kyocera's newest QWERTY-packin' clamshell for around $200, and aside from the slightly unattractive design, you will find quite a lot to keep your thumbs happy. Dubbed a "text messaging machine," the Lingo (also known as the M1000) boasts a standard numeric keypad on the outside and flips open to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. Furthermore, you'll get a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a Li-ion battery good for three hours of yappin' (or 200 hours in standby), voice recognition, dual color displays and a speakerphone to boot. If you're interested, it's available directly from Cricket as we speak.

[Via PhoneScoop]