Japan’s NTT DoCoMo is planning to launch global positioning system (GPS) phones by the end by the year. The move is aimed at catching up with its main rival KDDI, which has attracted 1.4 million subscribers, thanks partly to the introduction of GPS handsets in December.
DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile operator, has been left to play catch up after both KDDI and Vodafone’s J-Phone attracted more new users in May. DoCoMo is blaming this on its lack of new models. As well as the GPS handsets, it also fell behind in the race to roll out camera handsets that enable users to take still pictures.
DoCoMo launched its camera handsets this month, much later than J-Phone, which won extra customers when its camera handsets were launched back in November 2000.
