From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia au (mobile phone company)
au (mobile phone company)
au by KDDI
History
The network that would eventually become au was origi-
nally set up as two networks: DDI and IDO. IDO’s network
was based upon the NTT Hi-cap analog cellular system,
and began operations in December 1988 in the Kanto and
Tokai regions. DDI’s network was run by independent
Type Public company
phone companies, and began service in 1989 using the
Industry Wireless Services TACS system elsewhere in Japan. Nippon Idou Tsushin
(IDO) was owned by Toyota, whereas DDI was owned by
Founded November 2000
Kyocera Corporation.
Headquarters Japan au K.K. (株式会社エーユー) was established in
Products Chaku-Uta-Full, LISMO, etc. November 2000 by the Kyocera companies as part of the
DDI Cellular network. In 2001, the company was merged
Parent KDDI into KDDI (which had been formed in 2000 by the merger
Website www.au.kddi.com of DDI, KDD, and IDO), but its brand name was retained
and applied to all mobile phone service under KDDI
group.
au established a nationwide 3G network in 2003, re-
placing its previous cdmaOne service with CDMA 1X WIN
(1xEV-DO Rev A) service.
From 14 October, 2011, au will sell the iPhone 4S.
Products and services
au Mobile Shop Shinjuku
KDDI,
au (エーユー, Ē Yū) , or au by KDDI is a mobile phone
brand in Japan marketed by KDDI Corporation in the
main islands of Japan and Okinawa Cellular in Okinawa.
Naming
According to the ZYXYZ company, the brand establisher,
the name "au" is based on the Japanese verbs for "meet"
(会う) and "unite" (合う) (both pronounced au). Howev- au W31CA mobile phone produced by Casio
er, KDDI explains au comes from two letters which stand
for few words. "A" is for access, always and amenity, • : A service which provides various features for
and "U" is for unique, universal and user. There’s also mobile phone users, including e-mail, web browsing,
a phrase, "access to u(you)" that goes along the brand picture and video sharing, video conferencing, and
name.[1] access to location based services and games. The
service runs on traditional cdmaOne mobile phone
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia au (mobile phone company)
• : A service that allows users to customize their
ringback tones with music, etc.[2]
• : A service which is a component of EZWeb and
allows GPS-enabled handsets to plot their position.
• : Gives scrolling map and audio navigation to guide
you to your destination. Also displays restaurant,
shop and weather information for the area.
• : Using BCMCS technology.
•
• : au Listen Mobile Service. (Character mascot for this
service is LISMO-kun).
• : Global roaming service (CDMA and GSM).
• : Osaifu-Keitai.
• : An EZappli when watching analog terrestrial
LISMO-kun at broadcasting.
KDDI Designing Studio • : Supports 1seg digital terrestrial broadcasting for
phones and mobile devices. Also supports data
networks at a data rate of 64 kbit/s or on the new broadcasts. EZ television 1seg does not support
1xEV-DO Rev A network with up to 3.1 Mbit/s analog television.
downstream and 1.8 Mbit/s upstream bandwidth. In
a surprise move, in spring 2004 au became the first
cellular phone based data service provider to offer a
See also
"tsukaihoudai" (unlimited use) flat rate plan in • KDDI
Japan. • LISMO
• : Multimedia messaging service.
•
•
: Short Message Service
: A service which allows users to use song segments,
References
usually 30 seconds or less, as ring tones. Chakuuta’s [1] "全国シームレスな移動体通信事業の統一ブラ
rights are held by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. ンド「au(エーユー)」について" (in Japanese).
• : A service distributing full length songs over the KDDI. http://www.kddi.com/corporate/
mobile network. The selection offered is mainly pop news_release/kako/2000/0522/index2.html.
music. The coding format is 48 kbit/s HE-AAC. The Retrieved 2008-02-12.
size of one piece of music is about 1.5 MiB. [2] "KDDI Announces ’EZ Machi Uta’ Subscribers
Downloaded content is secured on a memory card Exceed One Million". http://www.kddi.com/
(miniSD, microSD, Memory Stick PRO Duo, M2) english/corporate/news_release/2007/0326/
plugged into the mobile, using CPRM copy index.html. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
protection. Chaku-Uta Full is the trademark of Sony
•
Music Entertainment Japan.
: BREW applications.
External links
• : Movie player. • (Japanese) Official site
• • (English) Official site
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Au_(mobile_phone_company)&oldid=471675500"
Categories:
• KDDI
• Mobile phone companies of Japan
• Telecommunications companies of Japan
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