PacketVideo today announced its collaboration with NTT DoCoMo to enable advanced mobile music services for the Japanese market using Microsoft Windows Media technology.

The collaboration has resulted in the first-ever support of Windows Media Audio protected by DRM in NTT DoCoMo's 3G FOMA handsets, powered by PacketVideo's Universal pvPlayer media player. PacketVideo has long supported Windows Media in US mobile service launches and has provided i-motion player capabilities for more than 20 of NTT DoCoMo's FOMA handsets.

"Together, PacketVideo and Microsoft technologies enable NTT DoCoMo FOMA handsets to play music downloaded from online PC music services, and also support music content from CDs in the Windows Media Audio format," said Kazunori Takagi, president of PacketVideo Japan. "This is a first in Japanese mobile handsets, and another in a long line of PacketVideo multimedia innovations for NTT DoCoMo."

The first product as a result of this collaboration is the F902iS handset from Fujitsu, which will be available shortly. The F902iS features PacketVideos new Universal pvPlayer technology that enables multiple file formats to be played by a single multimedia client solution. With PacketVideo Universal pvPlayer, the F902iS can play 3GPP (MP4), i-Motion (MMP4) and Windows Media content, using Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Digital Rights Management 10 for portable devices.