Yahoo! Keitai

From Sega Retro

YahooKeitai logo.png

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Yahoo! Keitai, previously Vodafone Live! and J-Sky (Jスカイ) was a mobile internet service created by J-Phone before the company was purchased by Vodafone, then SoftBank. It offered a means to allow mobile phones to access the internet.

Sega began supporting the service in Japan in November 2000 with software releases by WOW Entertainment[1].

With the release of the J-SH07 in 22 June 2001, J2ME support was added, and a tie-in with United Game Artists and Space Channel 5 meant every phone was bundled with Tsuwa Shichouritsu.

Hardware

Unlike its main competitor, i-mode, the Yahoo! Keitai service did not have consistent naming schemes for its products, and much of the terminology would change as Vodafone, then SoftBank took over operations. Like many third-parties Sega chose to group handsets by the size of the J2ME applets (officially Java appli (Javaアプリ) then V-appli (Vアプリ) and finally S! appli (S!アプリ).

50KB

Starting with the J-SH07, J-Phones could run J2ME applets up to 50KB in size.

Technical specifications

List of games

100KB

The J-SH51 in 2002 upped the size to 100KB.

Technical specifications

List of games

256KB

The J-SH53 upped the size to 256KB

Technical specifications

List of games

256KB Ver. 2

In 2004, rather than increase the maximum size of applets, a decision was made to improve other areas of the standard, allowing for real-time 3D graphics.

Technical specifications

List of games

3G

When Vodafone started selling 3G-enabled phones, the standard changed again.

Technical specifications

List of games

Promotional material

SpaceChannel5 JSkySummerBook front.png
Summer Book (2001)
SpaceChannel5 JSkySummerBook front.png
SpaceChannel5 JSkySummerBook interior.png
Summer Book (2001)
SpaceChannel5 JSkySummerBook interior.png

Artwork

References

  1. http://www.sega.co.jp/sega/corp/news/nr001031_1.html (Wayback Machine: 2001-07-10 20:10)


Japanese mobile phone internet services
i-mode | J-Sky/Vodafone Live!/Yahoo! Keitai | EZweb | Air-Edge | emobile | Y! Mobile
Portals
Game Parade | Medal Desu. | Pet * Sega | Pocket Works | Puyo Puyo! Sega | Sakura Taisen Keitai Club | Sega Ages | Sonic Cafe | Ulala no Channel J | WOW Ja Park | WOW Sports | Club C-Mode