i-mode
i-mode

i-mode

Naviblog Featured on DreamGate

Naviblog Japan was featured on Dreamgate, a Japanese government-supported organization, with the motto “Rise Up Japan” and that holds as its mission to nurture entrepreneurship in Japan. Found in the “Possibilities for Mobile Business” area within the “Fast Navi” section, Naviblog was featured in a marathon 5-article piece, the interview and article were authored by Kenichi Nakaya who has been involved with the mobile industry since the early days of the i-Mode. We have Naviblog’s presentation at Wireless Japan 2006 on Video Here.

DCMX Posts Strong 1H Growth

DoCoMo made an announcement recently regarding the performance of their new DCMX m-commerce product [WWJ video here], which launched 28 April 2006. Noting the claim that the number of contracts exceeded 1 million as of 12 November – just over six months – with 30 handset models now on the market, we decided to dig a little a little deeper and see how the intial 1H growth for DCMX compared with DoCoMo’s flag-ship i-mode portal six months after it debuted in February 1999.

DoCoMo and Kadokawa to Form Alliance

Kadokawa Holdings, comprising group companies engaged mainly in publishing or movie content, and DoCoMo have announced that they will form a comprehensive alliance through a capital tie-up. The parties will develop mobile content related with Kadokawa movies and animation, including original video content developed initially for the mobile environment, prior to release via other media. Also, Kadokawa will increase the range of content it distributes through some 40 sites it has on the i-mode portal.

Rakuten to Launch Anonymous Auctions

Rakuten, Inc. and NTT DoCoMo announced today that their joint-venture company Rakuten Auction is launching an auction service which does not require sellers or winning bidders to divulge private information to one another. The service will be available to PC users from today and will be listed in the i-mode portal from November 20. Compatible handsets for the new service, dubbed ‘Rakuten Auction,’ will be FOMA models sold since the launch of the 900i series, with some exceptions.

Napster Mobile Launches on i-mode

Napster has announced the launch of Napster Mobile on iMode. DoCoMo is now promoting Napster Mobile, with over-the-air full length songs and ringtones and the Napster To Go PC-to-handset sideloading capabilities through a multi-million dollar integrated marketing campaign comprised of TV, outdoor, print, in-box, online and on-deck promotion. The campaign also includes today’s platform-wide takeover of iMode by Napster. DoCoMo customers can use Napster Mobile to access full-length songs and ringtones that can be delivered over-the-air (OTA), directly to their mobile handset for immediate listening and downloading.

Japan's Still the World's High-Tech Testbed

This past week, WWJ’s own Lawrence Cosh-Ishii, our hard-working director of digital media (and pretty much everything else in our humble shop), appeared on US Web radio program "Into Tomorrow," hosted by Dave Graveline. Dave and his crew pop over to Tokyo each year for the annual CEATEC consumer tech show, and he makes it his business to hook up with a slate of guests who can provide insidery gen on what’s happening in Japan…