KDDI Corp., the provider of the au mobile phone service, said Tuesday it will release two smart phone handsets in early June or later in an effort to catch up to two front-running rivals in the area of smart phone service.
KDDI is releasing the IS01 smart phone featuring the Google Android operating system and the IS02 smart phone with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile OS. They are the company's first smart phone handsets for individual users.
KDDI has outsourced the IS01 to Sharp Corp. and the IS02 to Toshiba Corp.
The IS01 provides the "one-seg" capability allowing its users to watch terrestrial digital television broadcasts, while offering a keyboard and liquid crystal display. The IS02 has an organic electroluminescence display with the advantage of low power consumption.
KDDI rival NTT DoCoMo Inc. was to debut Thursday a smart phone model running on the Android operating system.
Softbank Mobile Corp., which sells the iPhone series smart phones in Japan under an arrangement with Apple Inc., plans to release an Android smart phone in late April.