J. League said Sunday it has tied up with NTT DoCoMo Inc., the mobile phone arm of telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., and three other NTT group companies to develop services such as distributing images of soccer matches to mobile phones.
One of the major focuses will be developing a system to transmit video images of game highlights such as goals as well as interviews with popular soccer players to NTT DoCoMo's third-generation FOMA mobile phone service, J. League said.
J. League, which is considering launching the service this August, hopes utilizing advanced technology will help it raise soccer's popularity with young people, many of whom are avid mobile phone users.
FOMA enables users to send and receive video and other large-capacity data on Internet-capable handsets.
J. League also said that with the cooperation of NTT group companies, it plans to equip its Web site with broadband Internet capabilities to enable users to enjoy clear images of highlights of soccer matches.
J. League said it is also considering enabling Internet users to access a detailed database via the Internet.