What's in an i-Mode?

First successfull mobile web service to start in Europe

[heini]

There's been talk for a while, now it's official: NTT DoCoMo licenses it's super popular i-mode to e-plus, German mobile company. Start is expected for April.

I-Mode enables users to access multimedia content from the web. It does not use the WAP standard but cHTML.

In Japan more than 30 MIll people use I-Mode - they even pay for it!

Google as well as Fast already are able to deliver results filtered for I-Mode.

Here is a very good article on the chances of i-Mode in Europe [europemedia.net]

[Eric_Jarvis]

thanks heini...so I'm going to need to do cHTML across the entire site, not just for Japanese

ho hum

[bill]

First thing you have to understand is that i-mode is not a programming platform or system. It is simply the name of a business model used by NTT DoCoMo. i-mode could work just as well with WAP or CDMA 2000 or GSM or anything else.

The i-mode business model works in Japan for a few simple reasons:

They gathered together a lot of high profile brand name content providers before they launched the service.

The content billing system is super-easy to use and it's safe.

It's simple to use (most Japanese who use i-mode have no idea the cHTML pages they view are on the Internet...they rarely leave DoCoMo's walled garden of content...it's that good)

The handsets are really cool and there's a variety to choose from different makers.