在當前日本移動通信領域，已實現了通過手機進行的網上購物、閱讀小說、互發電子郵件、視頻瀏覽以及為用戶尋找附近餐館的個性搜索服務等。目前，日本移動運營商又推出了通過手機學習大學課程的新業務。

Japanese already use cell phones to shop, read novels, exchange e-mail, search for restaurants and take video clips. Now, they're taking a university course.

Cyber University, the nation's only university to offer all classes only on the Internet, began offering a class on the mysteries of the pyramids on mobile phones yesterday.

For classes for personal computers, the lecture downloads play on the monitor as text and images in the middle, and a smaller video of the lecturer shows in the corner, complete with sound.

The cell phone version, which pops up as streaming video on the handset's tiny screen, plays just the Power Point images.

In a demonstration yesterday at a Tokyo hotel, an image of the pyramids popped up on the screen and changed to a text image as a professor's voice played from the handset speakers.

Cyber University, which opened in April with government approval to give bachelor's degrees, has 1,850 students.

The virtual campus is 71 percent owned by Softbank, a major Japanese mobile carrier, which also has broadband operations and offers online gaming, shopping and electronic stock trading services.

The cell phone lectures may be expanded to other courses but for now will be for the pyramids course, according to Cyber University, which offers about 100 courses, including ancient Chinese culture, online journalism and English literature.

Unlike the other classes, the one on cell phones will be available to the public for free, although viewers must pay phone fees.

The catch is the lectures can only be seen on some Softbank phones. The service may be expanded to other carriers, officials said.

Sakuji Yoshimura, who heads Cyber University and gives the pyramids course, said the university gives educational opportunities for people who find it hard to attend real-life universities, including those with jobs, the handicapped and the sick.

(Agencies/China Daily)

（英語點津 Celene 編輯）