NTT DoCoMo and Telefonica teaming up on Toshiba TG01 / T-01A launch
By Chris Ziegler 
posted May 25th 2009 5:26PM
posted May 25th 2009 5:26PM
It didn't take a keen eye to realize that NTT DoCoMo's recently-announced T-01A from Toshiba was little more than a TG01 rebrand, and it turns out the relationship between the two devices is even stronger than we'd already guessed. DoCoMo just issued a press release today touting the fact that it has hooked up with Spain's Telefonica to jointly launch the phone in both companies' markets -- and furthermore, they're exploring ways to expand their cooperation in the future, including (but not limited to) "a joint study of possible services and applications for open OS handsets." Japanese carriers have a rich history of partnering with their international counterparts -- DoCoMo's investment in AT&T's Hawaiian network, for example -- but unfortunately, very rarely does the partnership result in getting Japanese domestic market hardware launched elsewhere, which is a tragedy as far as we're concerned.
" but unfortunately, very rarely does the partnership result in getting Japanese domestic market hardware launched elsewhere, which is a tragedy as far as we're concerned."
Incorrect, NTT DoCoMo and Taiwan's FarEasTone have always been close, being part of the Asian Mobile Alliance and the development of iMode in Taiwan, FarEasTone received Fujitsu's F905i (branded for FarEasTone).
Hence the "very rarely" as opposed to "never." They've launched other i-mode-branded sets through FarEasTone as well.
And unfortunately, other times they come close but chicken out. Note the FCC report for one "N905iuH", a N905iu made for Hong Kong. It showed up in April but no actual product.