NTT DoCoMo, Inc. reported that Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. announced the release of DoCoMo’s i-mode service to the Italian market today. Italy marks the eighth market for i-mode service, which is already available in Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Belgium, France, and Spain. Wind is Italy’s third largest mobile telecom company, with approximately 10 million subscribers.
NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan’s leading mobile communications provider, and COSMOTE Mobile Telecommunications S.A., the leading mobile operator in Greece, announce today that they have formed an exclusive strategic partnership agreement under which DoCoMo is licensing COSMOTE to launch i-modeｮ, the world’s most popular mobile service, in Greece. The two leading mobile operators have signed today an agreement, under which COSMOTE will offer its i-mode service over its 2.5G GPRS network and 3G UMTS network, with DoCoMo providing its know-how, technology and patents.
NEC set up a large booth of 200 square meters that is closest to the entrance and exhibited only mobile phones. The demonstration of 3G mobile phones attracted attention from visitors. The company exhibited two models supporting both W-CDMA and GSM that it markets in foreign countries, including Great Britain and Australia.
Conventional wisdom teaches that Japan’s mobile industry is at least 18 months in front of Europe (and years ahead of the US). That truism is no more, however, as Europe’s cellular carriers, handset makers, and wireless Internet content providers have sweated blood to catch up – and catch up they have indeed. Daniel Scuka is in Germany this fall where he’s helping WWJpartner
Content providers like i-mode because it’s easy to program for — the format is nearly identical to regular Web pages — and they get 86% of the carrier’s take from content sales. Also important, i-mode runs on upgraded wireless networks, known as 2.5G or GPRS, that offer faster, always-on connections. What’s the attraction? Unlike the often-shoddy WAP offerings of a few years back, i-mode is a tightly woven, easily navigable package of preselected services.
Vodafone Chief Executive Chris Gent steps down next week after more than 17 years at the mobile phone titan, lowering the curtain on the last of the old guard of Europe’s shaken telecoms industry. Gent, 55, is one of the few chief executives whose reputation remains largely unscathed in a market where heads rolled and big-name firms sought financial rescue after one of the most dramatic share price falls on record.
NEC Corporation announced today that its mobile internet Platform and i-mode(TM) mobile handset commenced operation at Telefonica Moviles Espana (TME)’s “e-mocion” service started from June 26th 2003. TME and NEC, via its subsidiary NEC Iberica, have entered into an agreement for the supply of a mobile multimedia platform system with a view to develop i-mode services as one of the attractive service menus among e-mocion. Telefonica Moviles Espana is the Spanish leading mobile telephony company, with more than 18.7 million subscribers in Spain.
Spain’s Telefonica launched a commercial I-mode service on Thursday, while Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA agreed Wednesday to become the exclusive provider of I-mode services in Italy, DoCoMo said in separate statements.
WWJ subscribers did a great job of summarizing and opinion-izing on the state of the mobile Internet in Europe, and I would venture that the information contained below in today’s newsletter probably couldn’t be purchased anywhere – or if it could, the cost would be substantial. My overall take after reading, editing (slightly), and collating the responses is that – Wow! – Europe’s come a long way in the past two years. It strikes me that Europe 2003 is akin to Japan 2000, with new networks, data services, and innovative business models all being trialed, proven, and – in some cases (Did someone say “KPN i-mode?”) disproven.
Conrad Yiu, director of development at London-based Carbon Partners, a mobile content developer, said last week that the difficulty with using the wireless Internet as a marketing and promotion platform is the grey area mobile marketing and mobile consumer services crossover. He agreed that, even in Europe, or at least the UK, mobile users should be willing to pay for “marketing messages” that are fun and cool. “That is the holy grail for the brand or media owner. I guess the same idea of US college kids who wear their sweatshirts with the college name on it,” he added.
