"J. Sean Bennett" wrote:
> Good-Monday to you all;
>
> Many of you may have seen this story on Asia Links already;
>
> http://www.asia-links.com/scripts/postnews/article.asp?newsid=6727
>
> "...In Japan, there has been no contest between i-mode and Wap.
> The EZ system (based on Wap) is faster and technically superior,
> but i-mode is cheaper and has greater marketing clout. Who says
> the best man wins? Remember VHS vs Betamax. ..."
I am always facinated by blanket quotes like "technically superior" --
as an engineer I ponder what that phrase means.
But what nobody seems to understand is the that the success of I-Mode
has NOTHING to do with technical standards; it's the business model that
was successful, and it's the business model that DoCoMo will export out
of Japan and it's the business model that is killing the current WAP
business model.
I-Mode business model on WAP or 2-way pagers or cHTML...it doesn't
matter how the bits flow, people want a pricing structure, contents, and
a settlement system.
And the more European/US wireless fanatics ignore this truth, the more
likely they are to be crushed, regardless of technology.
r e n
Received on Mon Jun 19 18:12:00 2000