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Article: I-mode plays away from home: can i-mode be successful in Europe? (Industry & Market Update).(NTT DoCoMo's i-mode wireless service)
- Article from:
- Telecommunications (International Edition)
- Article date:
- November 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Horizon House Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service in Japan now has over 30 million subscribers. It is a mobile data model that has yet to be bettered anywhere else in the world (although its cheap e-mail service has eaten into NTT DoCoMo's more lucrative voice offerings).
The reason why i-mode has worked in Japan is largely attributed to its ability to attract content providers through revenue-sharing deals (where the mobile operator only takes a small percentage of the money). And consumers are drawn to the services, which are cheap and charged to the customers' phone bill by the mobile operator on behalf of the content provider.
i-mode's favourable outcome is additionally ...