G-mode was set up in 2001 for the sole purpose of creating Java games for wireless. They say they’ve sold 63 million downloads since then, and their games are played 250,000 times per day. This is the first mobile content provider we’ve ever met that claims made-in-Japan games can be exported overseas, despite the barriers of language and culture. Considering that Tetris — known globally — has no text, they just could be right.
At lunch today, I almost choked on my okonomiyaki. But it wasn’t the fried noodles, vegetables, bits of squid, or pancake-like dough that comprise this Hiroshima delicacy (only rarely reproduced with any satisfaction in the Tokyo area) that caused my trouble; it was an involuntary reaction to my lunch-mate’s comment that DoCoMo looks like it’s becoming “a media company.” Whew!! Regular readers of this newsmagazine will know that one of my themesin the past couple of issues has been how Big D is morphing from an engineering-centric technology company into a media player, just like one-time ISP AOL has.
With over 150 different Internet-capable cellular handsets in use by four different carriers, the challenge of formatting content to match the terminal is becoming, well, terminal. Each model has its own screen dimensions, color capability, and other idiosyncrasies, and if your business depends on making sure that mobile shoppers can see pics of all your products, like, say Yahoo Japan Auctions’ does, you’re in a world of hurt. Fortunately, one company has a solution. Thank God for the Americans!
A little-noticed PR release came out of North Hollywood on July 29 announcing that Walt Disney Internet Group and KG Telecom had agreed to distribute Disney mobile wireless content to KG Telecom wireless subscribers. KG Telecom will be the first operator to launch Disney content on thei-mode platform in the Chinese market, and the agreement allows KGTelecom’s customers in Taiwan to subscribe to downloadable content, such as screen savers and ring tones, based on Disney’s lineup of popular characters including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck (WWJ’s favorite — Ed.), Goofy, and Snow White.
Openwave is one of the key players in software and all things wireless, and are a vendor to both J-Phone and KDDI. We interview a senior product manager on standards-based applications, and why MMS may fail like WAP 1.0. We also take a first-hand look at a lively new instant messaging application for keitai and PC.
The drop in ARPU could be related to the fact that both DoCoMo and KDDI now have camera-equipped keitais on the market (although DoCoMo’s isn’t Java-enabled). Are we seeing the end of the camera-phone bubble? If so, there’s little else on the horizon to serve as the next market booster — except, of course, 3G speed-optimized services (and KDDI’s got the better network right now).
