Top New Stories

1. DoCoMo shaken by O2 delay in Germany

2. Mobile gaming hostage to complexity

3. Enabling platforms key to i-mode innovation

4. DoCoMo emasculates handset to placify business security

5. 2GB cards for fast mobile storage on i-mode handsets

What's On

The iCF is an endorsing body for the 2nd Annual Mobile Content Australia Summit, to be held Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th March 2007 in Sydney, Australia. Walter Adamson will be speaking on "What Investors are Looking For and How to Present to Them" Download presentation PDF.

If you're interested in mobile search news, see the latest at Goobile.com

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1. DoCoMo shaken by O2 delay in Germany

In not good news for the i-mode Alliance O2 has deferred plans to launch i-mode in Germany

According to the Times Online it is a move "that will raise questions about the mobile group’s commitment to its flagship mobile internet service".

O2 , which launched the service in the UK and Ireland two years ago, pledged then to roll out the offering in Germany in the first half of 2006. But it now says that it is focusing on other priorities in Germany, such as a fixed-line broadband service.

O2 said the launch of i-mode in Europe’s biggest market was now “under review”, with a “possibility” that plans for a rollout there could be scrapped altogether.

In the UK and Ireland, O2 has amassed 546,000 i-mode subscribers – just 3 per cent of the total customer base in those markets.

O2 signed with DoCoMo in 2004 to use the i-mode service, and the launch of i-mode in Germany by O2 was initially hampered because KPN, DoCoMo's first Alliance partner, had exclusive rights to Germany with its E-plus brand. DoCoMo resolved the dispute when KPN agreed to let O2 use the service so long as it did not use the i-mode name.

Ironically the star performer in the German mobile market in 2006 was from KPN's E-Plus, where its much lauded branding and MVNO strategies won it 1.4 percentage points (pp) of market share. For its part O2, which was level with E-Plus at the end of 2005 on 12.9% total market share, made slower progress, but still eeked out an additional 0.6pp share over the year - worth 0.5m customers in absolute terms.

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2. Mobile gaming hostage to complexity

In a article "Mobile gaming - what went wrong" Robert Tercek noted that there had been a baffling array of business models and billing systems over the years from the sensible to the absurd.

He also said that greed had been a factor, this time from the carriers. He pointed out that DoCoMo’s i-Mode, the most successful game service ever launched, had been marked by a low take on the carrier’s behalf (9%), while the failure of WAP was marked by an extremely high take by carriers.

It's worth noting that DoCoMo and i-mode also gave content providers a very simple billing interface, as well as the 91% of item revenue as noted above.

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3. Enabling platforms key to i-mode innovation

Our buddies at Wireless Watch Japan took offence at an article on eMarketer, "What stands out in the Japanese mobile market is the fact that innovation is shifting toward business models and marketing tactics as opposed to technical features and functions ... the explosion of non-official mobile content Web sites is causing the sun to set on the i-mode business model of a dominant mobile carrier selling incremental content and services to its user base," says John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer senior analyst.

In a considered reply WWJ noted that the carriers in Japan are not "selling incremental content;" they design and manage the platforms - and for the most part are not involved with consumer-level service offerings, except for the extremely attractive ones, like m-commerce, or the very technical ones, like certain aspects of location-based services or digital tv broadcasting, for example. WWJ also allude to the power and profits of flat-rates - contrary to popular thought that carriers give margin away through flat-rate offers.

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4. DoCoMo emasculates handset to placify business security

DoCoMo's 3G FOMA F903iBSC business-use handset is meant to enable companies to address security issues such as information leaks and non-work-related use of corporate phones.

To do this DoCoMo's theory is to close down everything on the handset including the handset's camera, external memory, USB and infrared ports, and the Osaifu-Keitai e-wallet service. In addition, the phonebook is limited to 101 entries. Further focusing the handset on business use is the absence of a music player or preinstalled i-appli Java-based applications.

DoCoMo, at the request of the customer, can remotely reset functions such as phonebook, e-mail, scheduler, data box, call records and screen memos if the handset is lost.

Security is further enhanced by a tool that automatically locks all functions when the handset is shut. Unlocking is achieved through biometric fingerprint authorization or a password.

It sounds kind of bizarre to consider that before handsets are developed outside Japan to near the state of advancement and functionality in Japan, that those in Japan are being emasculated back to the basics to address an emerging market segment.

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5. 2GB cards for fast mobile storage on i-mode handsets

SanDisk and the i-mode Alliance (which consists of 18 mobile network providers around the globe) announced the launch of SanDisk Mobile Premier, a new line of performance-oriented microSD(TM) memory cards aimed specifically at the mobile phone market.

The Mobile Premier cards have capacity up to 2GB and transfer speeds up to 10MB/second.

Bouygues Telecom, DoCoMo's alliance partner in France, is leading the implementation of TrustedFlash-enabled products in Europe by bundling SanDisk Mobile Premier cards with new handsets. Customers of i-mode Alliance members using TrustedFlash technology can access entertainment and other content from a variety of providers.

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This Weekly Newsletter on the i-mode business ecosystem is bought to you the i-mode Content Forum (iCF) the world's largest and most active i-mode® content trade association. President Pascal Lorne, and VP Asia-Pacific Walter Adamson.  See our Aims and Objectives.