If we had a penny for every time we've covered the amazing new services and research coming out of Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo, we'd have the proverbial riches of Croesus (well, almost) but the problem has always been that the stuff has an annoying habit of staying in Japan.

Those of us in the West have long had to watch from afar as Japanese phone users got to grips with e-cash handsets, credit cards in their phones and super-fast data rates while we skulked around in 2G short pants.

Now, however, that might all be about to change if a little-known branch of the Japanese giant succeeds in its plan of bringing a tiny bit of that Far-Eastern know-how to Europe.

European adventure

Since late 2000, a team of researchers at DoCoMo Communications Laboratories Europe has been beavering away at a facility in Munich working towards an ambitious mission statement that could change life for the continent's millions of phone subscribers.

Euro-Labs CEO Dr Toru Otsu, explains what his staff must ask themselves every time they clock in at the German office: "The exciting question today is, what will future emerging trends of mobile phone usage look like?"

The answer, it seems, lies in the 'Mobile Adventure' theme that governs everything the Euro-Labs does. Although it sounds like something that might be found in across the border in Marne-la-Vallée, there is a very serious side to the research.

Next generation

Chief Technology Officer Dr Hendrik Berndt says that work is necessary to understand what's likely to be possible and to succeed when we move to the 4G phone networks the Japanese parent is so famously developing.

He explains: "4th-generation mobile networks and service support… require both meticulous research and high-flying dreams to imagine what could be possible within the information society for the years to come.

"4G mobile systems will expand communications as we know it and transition today's information infrastructure to a truly daily-life supporting environment."

Although that 'life-supporting environment' is sure to include services like those currently enjoyed in Japan and plenty more, there is a fun side to the work Otsu, Berndt and their colleagues are ready to show the world now.

I, YOU and IT

Unlike many high-end research institutes, DoCoMo Euro-Labs actually has plenty of tangible results to show for its labours. Prime among these is a newly released social-networking application for mobile phones.