Sophia Cradle article on Kyoto Newspaper, p11
Dec. 12, 2004
Sophia Cradle develops compression tool for mobile phone applications.
Modern mobile phones support Game services including "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy", and downloads of these contents have became familiar within the country. However, when those users download those large contents, it will cost them a large amount of communication fees.
Sophia Cradle is a company that was founded by CEO Kazunori Sugiyama, who completed his Doctoral degree of engineering at Kyoto Univ. and has 6 years work experience for IBM Japan. Since the possibility of network connection by Mobile phones came to be, Dr. Sugiyama decided to establish his own independent company in 2002. The Sophia Cradle office located near Kyoto University, where he spent most of his school days, is the realization of his desire to have his own business.
Other mobile phone companies followed suit to the I-mode technology, but there was no compatibilities between the contents. Then CEO Sugiyama summarized the subdivided programs into one, developed a tool to compress and established compatibility for all applications. It was a great hit within the mobile industry, as there were no competitors producing similar products. Nowadays, more than 90% of Major Game contents providers rely on the compression tool produced. The tool actually helped development of the GPS, map, and also the accounts settlement system.
Sophia Cradle also produces software called "SophiaWindows" that enables to view multiple screens on mobile devices, and the game development tool "SophiaGameEngine" to design multi-joint characters. Those products are now recognized by both domestic and international Game contents providers.
The current objective is to provide "SophiaFramework" to the developers for free of charge and to build registration system on any of the programs made through the tool to collect usage fees. The new business model is planning to be built up during 2005. Although the net profit up to the end of third quarter was 27million yen, company predicts the next year's profit to be more than 100million yen. The Company was in black since establishment, CEO Sugiyama says, "2.5 billion mobile phone market is enormous and our tool is starting to attract western countries and I want to spread applications out made from our tools"
Sophia Cradle Article on Kyoto Newspaper, p.11
Oct. 30, 2004
Appeal to the next young generation.
Venture expectations rise in pervasive market
The Mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle produces software that enables users to control multiple screens on a mobile phone just like using windows OS.
For example, while playing games on a screen, you can also read, write and send e-mails on the other.
Although mainstream focus is on short messages and small screens on mobile phones in China, the market for its data-communication and highly efficient functions will be pervasive.
Also, to use low capacity memories efficiently, Sophia Cradle produces a compression tool for Mobile applications. Company CEO Kazunori Sugiyama is expecting a big response from the market and emphasizes that "complications to software brings high need on foundation technology".
SophiaSCALE Article on Nikkei Ryutsu Newspaper, p. 27
Sep. 28, 2004
Data Compression for Ringtones
Sophia Cradle Develops for Mobile-phone Distribution
Half Communication Expenses
The mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Kyoto City, President Kazunori Sugiyama) released data-minimization software for mobile phone ringtones, targeting major ringtone providers. Since KDDI's release of "Chaku-Uta," the amount of the transmission data has been increasing. Therefore, the ringtone providers now have the advantage in attracting users with the low communication expenses.
The new product SophiaSCALE minimizes the transmission data to a third of the original data by grouping the repeating patterns of the same melody and compressing each sequence. When the ringtone is long or there are many repeating patterns of melody, the data can be reduced by maximum 85% of the original.
The data is restored on the handset by an expansion software, which needs to be downloaded by the end-user in advance through the ringtone distributor. The price of the software is 300,000 yen (without tax) per distributor, and Sophia Cradle expects to sell it to 200 companies a year including related products.
The amount of data for a ringtone has been increasing due to the increase in the length of the ringtone itself and the use of original songs as a ringtone. For example, when a user downloads 15 ringtones each of which has 20 kilobytes, the total communication expenses is more than 700 yen which has been making a burden on the user.
SophiaSCALE Article on Nikkei Industrial Newspaper, p. 15
Sep. 22, 2004
Ringtone Compression -
Distribution Software from Sophia Cradle
The mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Kyoto, CEO: Kazunori Sugiyama, Tel: 075- 754-5155) released data compression software for ringtones. This solution is offered to application distributors, so that they can deal with the increasing capacity of ringtones. The repeating patterns of the same melody are combined into one by SophiaSCALE so that the repetitions are omitted to compress the data up to 85%.
Currently, the data capacity has been increasing to the amount that a whole song is provided as a ringtone. SophiaSCALE was designed to save time and cost of downloading data to a handset, by providing a high compression rate. According to Sophia Cradle, using SophiaSCALE, the distributors can offer their end-users much lower communication expenses to one-third of the former expenses. Users must have the expansion and execution software on their handsets when playing a compressed ringtone. Usually, this kind of software weighs more than 20 kilobytes, but SophiaSCALE offers a lighter software, with only 1.5 kilobytes.
SophiaSCALE also enables trial play and arrangement of ringtones with a handset. The price is 300,000 yen (200,000 yen special offer during September) per license, and Sophia Cradle estimates to sell 200 licenses a year.
SophiaSCALE Article on Kyoto Newspaper, p. 13
Sep. 16, 2004
Quick Download of Ringtones: Max 85% Data Compression
The mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto) released SophiaSCALE on September 15, software for compressing mobile phone's ringtone data up to 85%. It analyzes the ringtone data and groups the sequences of repeating patterns of the same melody. By defining them shorter codes, the size of the whole data is smaller. The longer the ringtone the bigger the number of repeating sequences in a ringtone, therefore the higher the compression rate - average 66%. The software for the handset is as light as 1.5 kilobytes. The increase in the size of the ringtones cost end-users higher communication bills, but the expenses will be greatly saved if the content provider uses SophiaSCALE. The product costs 200,000 yen per license and Sophia Cradle estimates to sell 200 licenses in a year.
SophiaCompress(Java) Article on The Kyoto Economic Journal, p. 7
Aug. 09, 2004
Compression Tool with Improved Functions
The mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City) released the latest version of the mobile Java application compression tool SophiaCompress on August 5. By introducing class integration and instruction optimization functions, the average compression rate is raised to 20-50% from the former 15-30%. A class is a module that composes a Java application. "Class integration" is a function that integrates multiple class files into one without changing the factors in them. The bigger the number of the classes to be integrated, the higher the compression rate required. Before, the reduction of the number of classes had to be done manually, but the "integration" function in the new version enabled it to be done automatically. The price of SophiaCompress is 300,000 yen per license. Sophia Cradle estimates 500 license sales within a year.
SophiaCompress(Java) Article on Kyoto Newspaper, p. 13
Aug. 07, 2004
Sophia Cradle Enables 50% Compression Rate for Mobile Phone Applets
The mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City) developed a compression tool which minimizes the size of mobile phone applications. The maximum compression rate is 50%, which allows big-size game applications to run on a mobile handset. The newly-developed product is the Version 3.0 of Sophia Cradle's SophiaCompress, which was the first offering to be developed in the mobile Java application compress tool industry. The latest version includes a "class integration" function that integrates segments of a program into one, thus making the whole smaller. Together with "instruction optimization," a function that analyzes commands of a program and replaces them with shorter ones, the latest version's maximum compression rate is raised from the former 30% to 50%. The product is available to application developers at 300,000 yen per developer. Currently, TV size games such as Dragon Quest are offered for mobile phones, and this trend will "accelerate with our compression tool, enabling big-size games to be equipped with higher-level handsets," says Kazunori Sugiyama, the President of Sophia Cradle.
SophiaCompress(Java) Article on Nikkei Industrial Newspaper, p.15
Aug. 05, 2004
Mobile Phone Applications and Games Compression -
Sophia Cradle Makes It Easier
The mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradale (Kyoto, CEO Kazunori Sugiyama, Tel: 075-754-5155) released a new version of SophiaCompress(Java) on August 5. It compresses mobile phone applications that were written in the network programming language Java. The compression rate of the new version is upgraded to 20-50%, from that of the former version 15-30%. It minimizes size of the functions of a program by analyzing the Java code. It is also equipped with a new function called "class integration," that combines together multiple Java compositions so that the same information can be shared. The bigger the program size, the higher the compression rate with SophiaCompress(Java). Higher compression rates enable less cost and time for a user to download a game application on a mobile phone. Games that are big in size and could not have been downloaded before would be available with the use of SophiaCompress(Java). Sophia Cradle expects to sell the product to 200 new customers, at a price of 300,000 yen each. For customers who have purchased the former version, Sophia Cradle offers the upgraded version for 10,000 yen per computer until next month.
SophiaFramework article on The Kyoto Economic Journal (p.1)
Jub. 28, 2004
Sophia Cradle Bids for Global Standard
The mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. CEO Kazunori Sugiyama) seeks success in the worldwide market by constructing a new business model. The background of the plan is the increasing number of BREW-enabled handsets. BREW is a platform for mobile devices developed by QUALCOMM Incorporated. Sophia Cradle will provide its middleware to network operators for free and will introduce a business system that would generate revenue directly from subscribers.
SophiaGameEngine article on The Kyoto Economic Journal, p. 7
Apr. 19, 2004
Business Cooperation for Game Development Software
A mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. President Kazunori Sugiyama) has announced that it will cooperate in business with a mobile phone game developer R-FORCE Entertainment (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. President Hirokazu Yokoyama). The two developers plan to commercialize new software for developing games in June this year, by utilizing each other's technologies.
R-FORCE's game developing technologies such as Animation Engine are implemented over Sophia Cradle's development framework for mobile phone software SophiaFramework. The ultimate goal of the cooperation is to provide infrastructure for games that support QUALCOMM's mobile phone software platform BREW.
The name of the new product is SophiaGameEngine. It consists of graphics, character parts and an animation editor for Windows. It does not only include helpful libraries of strings and random numbers that are necessary for developing games, but also SophiaCompress, a compress tool which reduces a BREW program by half.
SophiaGameEngine article on Nikkei Industrial Newspaper, p.17
Apr. 15, 2004
Shorter Time-to-market for Mobile Phone Games:
Sophia Cradle releases software that helps game creaters
A mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Kyoto, President Kazunori Sugiyama, Tel: 075-754-5155) released software that helps development of mobile phone games. The offering starts in June, and the price will be determined according to how much the software is used.
SophiaGameEngine was developed in cooperation with a mobile phone game application developer R-FORCE Entertainment, Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, President Hirokazu Yokoyama, Tel: 03-5766-8677). It will be used for development of games that support QUALCOMM's mobile phone platform BREW.
A game character is divided into around ten pieces, such as hands, feet and a body, to be input in the software. These pieces are put together on a desktop window (figure below) so that a whole body is synthesized. Sophia Cradle has already started taking orders from game developers, with five hundred thousand yen for each game application. Sugiyama estimates a hundred million yen sales during this financial year.
When developing BREW game applications, an engineer had to program each picture and repeat it to make a movie. This method was very time-consuming and required skills. However, SophiaGameEngine enables easier development of games just by using a mouse. This way, time and cost of development is reduced by half.
SophiaGameEngine article on Kyoto Newspaper, p.13
Apr. 13, 2004
Kyoto Shimbun, p.13 Sophia Cradle in Kyoto Releases Software for Game Creators A mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle, Inc. (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto City) has released new software that helps creating multi-joint characters of mobile phone games. It will be a key to improving quality of mobile phone games because it enables minute motions of a character in the limited capacity of a handset's memory.
The latest SophiaGameEngine was developed in cooperation with a game developer R-FORCE Entertainment, Co., Ltd. (Tokyo). Multi-joint character is a new technology that divides a game character by joints and then joins them to make a smooth motion. With this technology, a game designer can edit a character easily on Windows. SophiaGameEngine comes with a program compress tool so that it overcomes the handset's problem of small memory size.
SophiaCompress(BREW) Article on Kyoto Newspaper, p.15
Apr. 06, 2004
Sophia Cradle Offers a Tool for Development of Mobile Phone Software
Mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle, Inc. (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto) released the latest version of SophiaCompress, a compression tool for the mobile phone platform BREW. The new version reduces the memory required at runtime of a program by an additional 33 per cent over the former version. This tool is automated including the compression process. Free evaluation version are available at the Sophia Cradle website.
A Sophia Cradle Article on The Kyoto Economic Journal, p.3
Mar. 29, 2004
The Kyoto Economic Journal, p.3
Mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (Address: Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. President: Kazunori Sugiyama) was founded on February 5, 2002. To start an enterprise, engineers directed their interest to BREW, software environment for mobile phones developed by the leader of mobile communications QUALCOMM Incorporated. At that time, BREW had been hardly known because the leading mobile phone carrier in Japan, NTT DoCoMo has adopted Java.
"We needed to do something that no other companies had done," says Sugiyama. Sophia Cradle developed Java-related products to earn fundamental profits, but their main research and development was, and still is, products for BREW. "Since the beginning, we have expected that BREW would be a chance for us to extend our business."
The third-ranking carrier in the Japanese market KDDI announced a plan to adopt Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) for its "au" brand. It is a transmission method developed by QUALCOMM and other carrier company, and is equipped with BREW at standard. KDDI is the only carrier that offers BREW service in Japan, but there are another 22 carriers worldwide.
Therefore, Sophia Cradle has long been seeing a potential of BREW business in the international market. It is only this year when Sophia Cradle became earnest about its sales activity. Recently, Sophia Cradle has released a number of software products that support BREW-equipped handsets.
March was a turning point. In cooperation with iWaveDesign, Inc. (Higashinada-ku, Kobe. President: Daizo Nagahashi), Sophia Cradle has provided SophiaFramework, a fundamental layer for development of mobile phone applications to establish a stronghold in Dalian, China. Using SophiaFramework, an iWaveDesign team in Dalian will develop application for the Chinese market. The target will eventually be extended to South Korea, the United States and the European Union. "We have finished the first phase of research and development," and now Sugiyama is determined to be on a "sales offensive."
Business Cooperation with IWD: an Article on DENPA Newspaper, p.11
Mar. 27, 2004
Kyoto's Sophia Cradle and Kobe's iWaveDesign Cooperate
in Development and Sales of Mobile Phone Applications in China
Sophia Cradle, Inc. (Sophia Cradle, Address: 2-7 Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. President: Kazunori Sugiyama) and iWaveDesign, Inc. (IWD, Address: 6-9 Kouyou-cho Naka, Higashinada-ku, Kobe, Japan. President: Daizo Nagahashi) agreed to cooperate in development and sales of mobile phone applications in China. Sophia Cradle is known for such products as SophiaBrowser, an Internet browser which enables a user to view multiple web sites on a mobile phone.
Sophia Cradle will sell products in both Japan and China, and in the rest of the world in the future. According to Sugiyama, "the number of mobile phone users in China is more than three hundred million, which is about four times higher than the Japanese market. China's population of 1.3 billion is attractive to us who aim to establish a standard of mobile phone software that corresponds to Windows of personal computers."
Sophia Cradle has been specializing in BREW, a platform for mobile phone software that KDDI has started servicing in February last year, to build a common platform for mobile phone applications. "If such a platform works with BREW, it will work in many countries such as South Korea, the United States and India. It is crucial to succeed in China in order to be used in the whole world."
SophiaFramework is an application framework which enables multi-windows of a mobile phone and makes development of BREW applications more effective. A user can handle a mobile phone intuitively as if he is using Windows with a computer. An engineer does not have to write a program on graphical user interface (GUI), thus saving time and cost of development. "BREW will be a leader in the mobile phone industry next year," expects Sugiyama.
In February, Sophia Cradle released SophiaFramework v.2.2 and started distributing free evaluation version on the 13th. "SophiaFramework is divided into platform-dependent and -independent parts. Even the BREW-dependent part occupies only twenty per cent of the framework." It can also be ported into SymbianOS, Mobile LinuxOS and TronOS. "We will export SophiaFramework to Europe as well."
The International Keitai Forum article on DENPA Newspaper, p.3
Mar. 23, 2004
DENPA Newspaper, p.1
Kyoto Prefecture promotes mobile phone business as its new local industry. Newly established companies in Kyoto are willing to make inroads to the Chinese market through the forum.
Into Asia Through Mobile Phones
Two hundred companies join the forum
The Third International Keitai Forum was held in Kyoto on March 17 and 18. It was for the prefecture government's intention to develop the local mobile phone industry in Kyoto. One of the features of the forum was the fusion of the name of Kyoto as a brand and the industry of mobile phones as a very modern technology of today. More than 200 companies and organizations exhibited and 36,300 people visited the forum. The initial aim of the forum was to cooperate with Asia, and it has been making results in achieving such aim that the fourth forum will be held in Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA), China, on November 2 and 3 this year. The series of the forum will be held in Japan and China by turns.
Kyoto is known for the cultural climate that small firms develop into worldwide companies such as Kyocera Corporation, Rohm Co., Ltd. and OMRON Corporation. This gravitation still remains. Many of the companies that are eager to find a market in China were the center of visitors' attention.
Sophia Cradle, Inc. located in Kyoto City will start development of application, particularly targeting the Chinese market as well as making production cost low. "Consumers demand a standard of mobile phone software, which correspond to the Windows of personal computers. China's population 1.3 billion is attractive to us who aim to establish such standard," says the President Kazunori Sugiyama.
Worldwide availability
WEBMAX, Inc., also located in Kyoto City, cooperates with a Korean company. "The world share of Samsung Corporation and LG Electronics Inc. is around fifty per cent. If software is embedded on Korean handsets, it will be used in the whole world," foresees the President Yasukazu Watanabe.
Kyoto has a traditional culture with ambitions at various companies, gathered intelligence at Kyoto University and other schools, and the history of 1,200 years. The true value of the mobile phones, as a result of their integration, will be recognized in Asia soon.
Cooperation with IWD: Article on The Kyoto Economic Journal, p.3
Mar. 22, 2004
The Kyoto Economic Journal, p.7 China as a Center of International Strategy
A mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle, Inc. (Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. President Kazunori Sugiyama) agreed to cooperate with an application planner and developer iWaveDesign, Inc. (Higashinada-ku, Kobe. President Daizo Nagahashi) in order to expand business into China. They will construct a system for mass production of applications. It will be a part of their strategy to shift into the worldwide market.
Sophia Cradle offers a framework for development of applications SophiaFramework to iWaveDesign who develops and produces applications. iWaveDesign has established a development team in Dalian, China since the beginning of March. The team consists of ten members, including a programmer and a system engineer from Japan and Chinese engineers. iWaveDesign intends to provide products that are developed in Dalian to both Japanese and Chinese markets, and eventually to Korean and American markets. Establishing foothold in China reduces the cost of development by two-thirds. Using SophiaFramework enables mass production.
iWaveDesign will provide products to carriers who offer BREW-equipped handsets in China and Japan. Sophia Cradle's Sugiyama estimates fifty million yen sales in a year. Sophia Cradle is also convinced to advance into the international market taking China as a start.
Sophia Cradle and iWaveDesign announce business model in China: an article on Kyoto Newspaper, p.9
Mar. 17, 2004
Kyoto Newspaper, p.9 Computer-level Handling of Mobile Phones - Released by a Company from Kyoto Software developer Sophia Cradle, Inc. (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto) agreed to cooperate in development and sales of mobile phone applications with a newly established information technology company iWaveDesign, Inc. (Higashinada-ku, Kobe). They will exhibit an application that was developed in China at the International Keitai Forum.
Sophia Cradle possesses SophiaFramework technology that makes handling of a mobile phone to a level of computers. iWaveDesign gets a license of that technology and carries out development and sales of BREW software in Dalian, China.
Both companies utilize each other's strength to develop applications that conform an American carrier QUALCOMM Incorporated's mobile phone platform BREW. The applications will be sold to a Chinese carrier China Unicom that offers BREW-equipped handsets. "The BREW handset market in China is four times bigger than in Japan. We will move into the software market before it's too late," says Sophia Cradle president Sugiyama.
SophiaBrowser(BREW) Article on DENPA Newspaper, p.3
Mar. 16, 2004
DENPA Newspaper, p.3 New Mobile Phone Internet Browser Display Multiple Web Sites - SophiaBrowser the First of the Kind Sophia Cradle, Inc. (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto. President Kazunori Sugiyama) announced on February 25, the release of Internet browsing software SophiaBrowser, which enables a user to view multiple web pages on a handset. With other mobile phone Internet browser, a user could only view one page. However, SophiaBrowser enabled viewing of multiple pages by switching tabs that are attached to each page as an index. The tab browser method utilizes the small screen size of a handset and minimizes memory size while many websites are opened at the same time. "With the specification of current handsets, it is possible to view around ten pages," says Sugiyama.
Business Cooperation with iWaveDesign: Article on Nikkei Industrial Newspaper
Mar. 12, 2004
Nikkei Industrial Newspaper, p.15 A systems developer iWaveDesign, Inc. (IWD, President Daizo Nagahashi, Kobe, Tel: 078-854-8210) has started development of mobile phone software on consignment in China. By employing local engineers, the development cost of game software and business-support software that have been entrusted by Japanese customers will be inexpensive.
Eight local engineers work for IWD at its cooperative firm in Dalian. They are developing software that is compatible with QUALCOMM's software standard for mobile phones BREW. In Japan, BREW service is offered by KDDI. The benefit of BREW is that you can view and edit data again and again by downloading it only once.
In this project, they are using "SophiaFramework" of a mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (President Kazunori Sugiyama, Kyoto). The IWD engineers can use the skeleton which is already included in SophiaFramework, reducing time and cost of development into half. The goal sales of the Chinese development team is a hundred million yen for the first year.
SophiaBrowser(BREW) Articles on Nikkei Newspaper and Other Media
Feb. 25, 2004
Nikkei Newspaper (NIKKEI), p.17 Sophia Cradle (Kyoto, Tel: 075-754-5155, President Kazunori Sugiyama) has released Internet browser "SophiaBrowser" that switches multiple websites by selecting tabs on a mobile phone screen. By bookmarking your favorite websites, you can view different pages easily without going back to the main menu. Therefore, it makes a user to compare different websites easy. The current SophiaBrowser can store maximum ten websites. Sophia Browser is compatible with Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW), an operational system for mobile phones offered by QUALCOMM. The companies that purchase any software from Sophia Cradle, for developing mobile phone applications, will receive a free program for making your own mobile phone browser.
SophiaBrowser(BREW) Article on Seisansei Newspaper, p.2
Feb. 25, 2004
Internet Browser for Next Generation Mobile Phones
[ Abstract ]
Sophia Cradle, which dedicates itself to development of software for mobile phones, develops products that reflect the needs of mobile phone end-users. Sophia Cradle therefore concentrates on developing software for BREW-equipped mobile phones. The number of BREW handsets around the world is predicted to increase to a hundred million within this year. The company is trying to make the best use of flexible ideas and abilities from their young staff to offer best services to content providers.
[ Full Story ]
Japan's domestic market of mobile phone handsets in use amounts to eighty million. Since the foundation in 2002, Sophia Cradle has been specializing in development and sales of mobile phone software. It contributes to easy use of mobile phone screen and new mobile phone Internet contents through the development of compression software, an operating system and a browser of mobile phones.
Today, new mobile phone Internet services are available with the release of the third generation handsets. The feature of this generation is the capability of equipping functions that are similar to personal computers, with Java and C++ applications. Currently, however, there are problems such as limitations in program size and different handling of phones among different types of handsets. These problems are what computers used to have when they first came into the society. Most of those problems will be solved with a common mobile application platform, like the operational system of personal computers. President of Sophia Cradle Kazunori Sugiyama said, "When creating a new mobile phone contents, each content provider had to start from scratch. As hardware becomes complicated, the size of programs inside it expands, and thus increases time and cost of the program designing. This is why we had to consolidate the base part of content designing."
Sophia Cradle's main products are SophiaFramework, SophiaCompress and SophiaBrowser. 70 per cent of the whole company's sales is the SophiaFramework, which is a mobile application platform for QUALCOMM's Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) which has recently been upgraded. BREW overcomes the differences in specifications with different types of handsets, and allows a single program that has been translated into machine language to run very quickly. Currently, twenty-three mobile phone carriers, including Japan's KDDI that started a BREW service in February 2003, offer BREW services for their mobile phones.
Sophia Cradle also provides an Internet browsing software SophiaBrowser(BREW) that allows a user to view multiple web pages by selecting a tab on a screen to switch from one page to another. The same kind of browser that's available for personal computers, but not in the mobile phone industry until SophiaBrowser. An example use of the product is viewing a map on one website and also checking a movie schedule on another with a mobile phone before going to see a movie.
Another product is SophiaCompress, which reduces the size of Java programs for mobile phones. It is widely introduced to game applications for NTT DoCoMo's "i-appli."
Sophia Cradle's products have been sold to many game makers and content providers such as MTI, Dwango, Cybird, Bandai Networks, Namco, Taito, Tecmo, Square Enix and G-mode. These days, handset makers are also showing interests in Sophia Cradle's technologies.
According to Sugiyama, the spread of BREW in the world is remarkably fast. All KDDI handsets will be equipped with BREW this year. Today, the number of BREW handsets in Japan is 2.3 million, and will be over 10 million by the end of this year. In the whole world, that number is expected to be a hundred million, ten times bigger than in Japan. "This makes a great business opportunity for us -- Sophia Cradle will be a leading company in the BREW mobile phone industry," said Sugiyama.
After finishing a master's course in Engineering at Kyoto University, Sugiyama worked for IBM Japan for six years at the planning, research and development group of information systems for companies. Then he went back to Kyoto University to study System Science for a doctoral degree. He also has experiences in marketing for a beverage company and contructing systems for a mail order company at Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI).
When NTT DoCoMo started "i-mode" service in 1999, Sugiyama did a thorough research on the "i-mode" market at MRI and then started working for a newly established company that develops mobile phone systems. There, he devoted himself to reseaching mobile phone system and its market, but soon decided to do his own business in this field and established Sophia Cradle in February 2002.
Most of Sophia Cradle's staffs are undergraduates and graduates majoring in Science, Engineering, Law, Economics, Literature, Game or Art at Kyoto University. "Our mission is to provide products that ultimately satisfy end-users in the mobile phone industry, by stimulating our young staff's abilities and flexible ideas," Sugiyama says. Sophia Cradle's technology will eventually be applied to other terminals than mobile phones, such as electric household appliances and intelligent transport systems (ITS). Sophia Cradle's corporate goal "to contribute to development of society as a whole with flexible ideas and innovative technologies" will surely lead Sophia Cradle to make progress for the society and the economy of the mobile phone industry.
SophiaWindows Article on The Kyoto Economic Journal
Feb. 23, 2004
The Kyoto Economic Journal, p.13 A mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle released "SophiaWindows," a mobile phone Internet browser that enables a user to use multiple functions and to view large-size data. It is compatible with a mobile phone operating system BREW.
Articles on Nikkei Industrial Newspaer and Other Media
Feb. 17, 2004
We released SophiaFramework v2.2 on Februrary 2, 2004. Free trial version available. This product is upgraded as to HTTP/HTTPS transfers, browser and automatic coding. Please refer to release notes (in Japanese) for details.
Nikkei Industrial Newspaer, p.17 A mobile phone software developer Sophia Cradle (President Kazunori Sugiyama, Kyoto, Tel: 075-754-5155) will release their latest version of "SophiaFramework," an architecture that is compatible with QUALCOMM's mobile phone operating system BREW, on Februrary 22. This new version automatically designs a skeleton of software and helps a software engineer to work more effectively.
This upgraded version does not require making of tabs and boxes, and includes a protocol that makes tranfer of Java software easy and a culculator function that makes the design of three dimentional graphics more effective for developing game software.
The new standard fee for a development license is 95,000 yen. And the fees for execution licenses is 150,000 yen per application. Separate maintenance fee needed. BREW is equipped in KDDI handsets in Japan.
SophiaWindows Article on Kyoto Newspaper
Feb. 17, 2004
Kyoto Newspaper, p.13. Use a Mobile Phone Like a Personal Computer
[ Abstract ]
Sophia Cradle, a software company founded in 2002 (Sakyo, Kyoto), has released software that displays multiple functions on a mobile phone screen. SophiaWindows provides a remarkable new function for the existing mobile phones because it overcomes the problem of screen size limitation and allows a user to view big data on a mobile phone such as spread sheet software by scrolling up and down the window. You can also use an e-mail editor and an address book at the same time with your mobile phone, just like you are using them with your computer.
[ Full Story ]
SophiaWindows is mobile-phone software developed for the basic running environment BREW. Prior to SophiaWindows, a user had to quit a program such as an e-mail editor to start another function on a mobile phone. This new product not only allows a user to use multiple functions at a time, but also to view vast amounts of data such as Word and Excel that were usually viewed on computers.
Sophia Cradle develops technologies that effectively utilize small amounst of mobile-phone memory. It enabled speeding up the running environment of software to free users from having to wait when using a program. There are twenty-three carriers in the world including Japan's KDDI, that offer BREW-based services. Sophia Cradle's sales target extends from Japan to those carriers worldwide.
Sophia Cradle expects 60 million yen sales within the first year, and eventually 300 million yen in 2005 by deploying internationally because there are more BREW carriers outside Japan. "SophiaWindows can be applied not just on BREW but on any mobile phone services if we continue our development," says the President of Sophia Cradle Kazunori Sugiyama. According to Sugiyama, inquiries have already made by foreign carriers, which makes him eager to make further achievements both domestically and internationally.