Los Angeles - Napster said on Thursday that its unlimited, over-the-air music subscription service has launched in Japan with carrier NTT DoCoMo. Napster Mobile is compatible with DoCoMo's line of 904i handsets, and allows customers to pay for music directly through their mobile bills.

Mountain View, Calif. - Mobile Content Networks, a provider of mobile search technologies, said on Monday that Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo will deploy the company's search results across all premium music listings on iMenu, part of NTT's iMode service that claims 50 million subscribers.

Los Angeles - Napster announced on Monday that Napster Japan -- a joint venture with Tower Records Japan -- will soon launch an over-the-air mobile music download service with NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest wireless carrier. The service will be available on DoCoMo's new 904i series of handsets, set to ship in May, with billing to be integrated onto DoCoMo subscribers' mobile phone bills.

Tokyo - NTT DoCoMo, the largest mobile network in Japan, on Monday introduced a new handset from Mitsubishi that features a motion sensor for use in controlling action in mobile games, Reuters reported. Set to ship next month in Japan, the D904i lets users swing the phone like a sword or tennis racket, similar to the remote for Nintendo's Wii video game console. NTT DoCoMo also introduced two phones from Sharp and Matsushita in its 904i series that use built-in cameras to detect motion.

Los Angeles - Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo plans to introduce a mobile music service in May that offers unlimited downloads to cell phones for about $17 per month, Billboard reported, citing Japan's Nikkei newspaper. However, the service will offer a more limited catalog than the network's existing pay-per-song service.

Cupertino, Calif. - Ecrio, a developer of mobile communications and commerce software, announced on Tuesday that it has received a $10 million investment from Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo.

Emeryville, Calif. - Catalyst Mobile announced that it partnered with Warner Music Japan to launch the Warner Music Group Rhino Mobile service, a Japanese mobile music portal for NTT DoCoMo subscribers. The Flash-based subscription service includes search, recommendation, preview and download features, and will be priced starting at 315 yen ($2.62) per month.

Cambridge, Mass. - MediaUnbound, a provider of music recommendation and personalization technology, said on Monday that Napster Japan has licensed its technology for the mobile music service it offers to NTT DoCoMo subscribers in Japan. Massachusetts-based MediaUnbound's recommendations are also used on the PC version of Napster Japan's music service.

Newbury, England - A group of big names in the wireless industry, including Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone, have come together to form the LiMo Foundation, a non-profit that will work to jointly develop a Linux-based mobile platform.