By C. A. Pomeroy
TU-KA Cellular group, part of the mobile communications sector
outfits owned by the new DDI Corp. (better known as "KDDI"), has licensed the
trademark and world-famous "stallion" logo from Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari,
for use on its "Ferrari Red" cellular phone.
Plans were unveiled at the CEATEC show (resulting from the integration this
year of the COM Japan show and Electronics Show) in Japan. The new phone set
will be available from December, but marketing has already been kicked off at
the Formula 1 races being held in Suzuka, near Nagoya.
The phone is to be manufactured by Kyocera, a parent company of KDDI, with the
equine logo to be found on the handpiece portion and the trademark affixed to
the machine as well as the phone strap. Although there is a cellular phone with
the Ferrari name and logo on it in use in Europe, the Japanese cellular phone
system differs from the European standard.
In addition to TU-KA Cellular, KDDI (formed on October 1 upon merger of KDD
Corp., the old DDI Corp. and IDO Corp. in a bid to compete with the former phone
monopoly NTT Corp.) has mobile communications outifits called IMT-2000 (which
will start offering service starting next May), cellular phone operator "au"
and DDI Pocket under its wings.