au (mobile phone company)

au
Public company
Industry Wireless Services
Founded November 1, 2000
Headquarters Japan
Products Chaku-Uta-Full, LISMO
Parent KDDI
Website www.au.kddi.com
An au store in Osaka

au, or au by KDDI, is a mobile phone brand in Japan marketed by KDDI in the main islands of Japan and Okinawa Cellular in Okinawa.

Naming

According to[1] 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.[2]

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 system elsewhere in Japan. Nippon Idou Tsushin (IDO) was owned by Toyota, whereas DDI was owned by Kyocera Corporation.

au K.K. (株式会社エーユー) was established in November 2000 by the Kyocera companies 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 service with CDMA 1X WIN (1xEV-DO Rev A) service.

au started selling the iPhone 4S from 14 October 2011.

au launched LTE service as "au 4G LTE" in September 2012.

Products and services

au W31CA mobile phone produced by Casio in 2007
Sony Xperia Z1 (SOL23 model) with au boot screen

References

  1. "社名・コーポレートブランド名". ZYXYZ. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  2. "全国シームレスな移動体通信事業の統一ブランド「au(エーユー)」について" (in Japanese). KDDI. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
  3. "KDDI Announces 'EZ Machi Uta' Subscribers Exceed One Million". Retrieved 14 March 2008.

External links

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