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au, or au by KDDI, is a Japanese
mobile phone operator
A mobile phone operator, wireless provider, or carrier is a mobile telecommunications company that provides wireless Internet GSM services for mobile device users. The operator gives a SIM card to the customer who inserts it into the mobile dev ...
. au is a brand marketed by
KDDI
() is a Japanese telecommunications operator formed on October 1, 2000 through the merger of DDI Corp. (Daini-Denden Inc.), KDD (Kokusai Denshin Denwa) Corp. (itself a former listed state-owned enterprise privatized in 1998), and IDO Corp. It h ...
in the main islands of Japan and by Okinawa Cellular in
Okinawa
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest city ...
for their mobile cellular services. au is the
second-largest wireless carrier in Japan, with 60.398 million subscribers as of March 2021.
Naming
According to the brand creator, the name 'au' is based on the Japanese verbs for 'meet' (会う) and 'unite' (合う) (both pronounced 'au').
However, KDDI explains that au comes from two letters which stand for few words. 'A' is for access, always and amenity, and 'U' is for unique, universal and user. There is also a phrase, 'access to u(you)' that goes along the brand name.
History
The network that would eventually become Au was originally 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 phone companies, and began service in 1989 using the
TACS
Total Access Communication System (TACS) and ETACS are variants of Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) which were announced as the choice for the first two UK national cellular systems in February 1983, less than a year after the UK government an ...
system elsewhere in Japan. Nippon Idou Tsushin (IDO) was owned by
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, whereas DDI was owned by
Kyocera Corporation
is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunic ...
.
was established in November 2000 by Kyocera as part of the DDI Cellular network. In 2001, the company was merged into KDDI (which had been formed in 2000 by the merger 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, replacing its previous
cdmaOne
Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) was the first ever CDMA-based digital cellular technology. It was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunications Industry Association in TIA/EIA/IS-95 release published in 1995. Th ...
service with CDMA 1X WIN (
1xEV-DO Rev A) service.
Au started selling the
iPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S (originally styled as iPhone 4 S, retroactively stylized with a lowercase 's' as iPhone 4s as of September 2013) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, succ ...
from 14 October 2011.
Au launched
LTE service as 'Au 4G LTE' in September 2012.
Au launched 5G service as 'UNLIMITED WORLD au 5G' in 26, March 2020.
Products and services
*EZweb: A service which provides various features for mobile phone users, including e-mail, web browsing, picture and video sharing, video conferencing, access to location-based services, games and
Emoji
An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed conversat ...
. The service runs on traditional
cdmaOne
Interim Standard 95 (IS-95) was the first ever CDMA-based digital cellular technology. It was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunications Industry Association in TIA/EIA/IS-95 release published in 1995. Th ...
mobile phone networks at a data rate of 64 kbit/s or on the new 1xEV-DO Rev A network with up to 3.1 Mbit/s downstream and 1.8 Mbit/s upstream bandwidth. In spring 2004, au became the first cellular phone based data service provider to offer an unlimited use flat-rate plan in Japan.
*EZweb@mail: Multimedia messaging service.
*C-mail:
Short Message Service
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
*EZchakuuta: A service which allows users to use song segments, usually 30 seconds or less, as ring tones. Chakuuta's rights are held by
Sony Music Entertainment Japan
, often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...
.
*Chaku Uta Full: A service distributing full length songs over the mobile network. The selection offered is mainly pop music. The coding format is 48
kbit/s
In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...
HE-AAC. The size of one piece of music is about 1.5
MiB. Downloaded content is secured on a memory card (
miniSD
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
,
microSD
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
,
Memory Stick PRO Duo
The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage capacity an ...
,
M2) plugged into the mobile, using
CPRM
Content Protection for Recordable Media and Pre-Recorded Media (CPRM / CPPM) is a mechanism for controlling the copying, moving, and deletion of digital media on a host device, such as a personal computer, or other player. It is a form of digi ...
copy protection. ''Chaku-Uta Full'' is the trademark of Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
*EZappli:
BREW applications.
*EZmovie: Movie player.
*EZchannel
*EZ Machi Uta: A service that allows users to customize their
ringback tone
Ringing tone (audible ringing, also ringback tone) is a signaling tone in telecommunication that is heard by the originator of a telephone call while the destination terminal is alerting the receiving party. The tone is typically a repeated caden ...
s with music, etc.
*EZnavigation: A service which is a component of EZWeb and allows GPS-enabled handsets to plot their position.
*EZnaviwalk: Gives scrolling map and audio navigation to guide you to your destination. Also displays restaurant, shop and weather information for the area.
*EZnewsflash: Using
BCMCS
Broadcast and Multicast Service (BCMCS) is an interface for providing broadcast and multicast services in 3GPP2 CDMA2000 mobile networks. BCMCS can be used to transfer light video and audio clips or other data to a large group of mobile subscrib ...
technology.
*PC Site Viewer
*
LISMO
LISMO is an online music service provided by au, a Japanese mobile phone brand run by KDDI, a Japanese telecommunication company. This service uses a mobile phone as a music player. This service was introduced on January 19, 2006, and the servic ...
: au Listen Mobile Service. (Character mascot for this service is LISMO-kun).
*Global Passport: Global roaming service (CDMA and GSM), the first AU handset requiring a "SIM card" (IC Card).
*Global Expert: Successor to above
*EZ FeliCa:
Osaifu-Keitai
, literally "Wallet Mobile", is the ''de facto'' standard mobile payment system in Japan. Osaifu-Keitai services include electronic money, identity document, identity card, Loyalty program, loyalty card, fare collection of public transits (includ ...
, a payment system.
*EZ television: An EZappli when watching analog terrestrial broadcasting. Ended on 24 July 2011 in most areas and on 31 March 2012 in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures.
*EZ television 1seg: Supports
1seg digital terrestrial broadcasting for phones and mobile devices. Also supports data broadcasts. EZ television 1seg does not support analog television.
*au 4G LTE: FDD-LTE service.
*AU internet: an internet service provided by AU through KDDI from
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
KDDI
Mobile phone companies of Japan
Telecommunications companies of Japan
Japanese companies established in 2000
Japanese brands
Telecommunications companies established in 2000
Retail companies established in 2000