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Europe's i-mode a Bust for Japanese Content Plays?

“Take a look at this list,” says Arjen van Blokland, pointing to the top ten i-mode site listing at imode.nl. “Not one of them is Japanese,” states Arjen in a voice that betrays evident relief that 104.com didn’t get involved in European i-mode. He asks, Where’s Cybird?, illustrating that fact that the Japanese content producers and aggregators — like Cybird, Index, MTI, and others — have seen signal unsuccess at penetrating the baby i-modes overseas. He may have a good point — given that it should have been the Japanese that taught the rest of the i-mode world how to do content right.

WLAN: Lessons from i-mode

WLAN: Lessons from i-modeThere’s a tremendous amount of initial wireless LAN network activity going on in Japan right now, but it’s still too early to say how WLAN will affect 3G. One thing is certain however: licensed-spectrum carriers are looking closely at WLAN to determine whether the technology will disrupt their carefully knit 3G network, wireless Internet, and data revenue plans. We speak with an industry insider on a recent WLAN hotspot trial conducted by a major mobile telco. But large carriers and others thinking about launching hotspot networks shouldn’t worry about finding content. First, solve the billing, roaming, and security problems — then content providers will beat a path to your door… just as happened with, oh…, for example, i-mode.

Paying Heavy 2G Users to Stay Happy Just a Little Longer

But the most significant hidden news in this announcement may just be the fact that there are 300,000-plus extremely heavy data users already using i-mode. This means that DoCoMo has a captive, willing audience already on hook that is ripe for targeted migration to 3G. And it would appear that this audience has been woefully underexploited — FOMA had just 127,400 users on July 31. Looks like Big D will slash i-mode transmission fees on both the 2G and 3G networks starting September 1.. OK — maybe the reduction isn’t exactly a “slash,” since the 2G rate will only go from 0.3 yen per packet (128 bytes) to 0.2 yen per packet, and this reduction will only be applied after the first 100,000 packets (i.e. the first 30,000 yen of transmission fees).

When Japanese Carriers Buy Content

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.

i-mode Becomes (Sadly) a Global Brand

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.

Why is J-Phone hurting so bad?

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).

Java vs. Picture Mail

We think that the market heavyweight, NTT DoCoMo, gets a better payback by spreading Java far and wide (at a low marginal cost), while eschewing pricey gadgets and add-ons (or making the consumer pay for same when desired; we note that DoCoMo’s SH251i is selling for 5,000 yen more than J-Phone’s high-end Sharp Sha-mail handset).

DoCoMo's Hidden 9 Percent

Neale contacted DoCoMo IR, who helped clarify where the 9 percent lives in DoCoMo accounts. In the English version of the Consolidated Financial Statements (8 May 2002), under “(2) Consolidated Statements of Income” (page 16), there’s a section titled, “Operating income from other businesses.” This includes the 9 percent (Aha!!), and amounted to 45,272 million yen in FY2002.

Interview with i-mode Contrarian, Part 1

Interview with i-mode Contrarian, Part 1In the first part of our Killer Interview Series with one of Tokyo’s contrarian telecoms analysts, we find out what happens to data ARPU when price-insensitive, heavy-volume users migrate to new services (like Java). The answer? It’s not a pretty sight, and the same may be in store for 3G. Plus, we cover ARPU stats, compare FOMA data usage to 2G, and reveal what generates the most packet traffic (think “self-generated content”).