Punnamas nailed it. The reason I-Mode was and continues to be successful is
because from day one there were LOTS of high-quality, trustworthy sites with
good content and a simple payment scheme.
People seem to think I-Mode is the Wireless Web; it's not. It's a giant DoCoMo
intranet. Think about that as a business model.
r e n
punnamas vichitkulwongsa wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I strongly agree with Ren here. It was not so much the technology that makes
> iMode a runaway success. It is the business model and all the components
> that make it works (ex:payment settlement service, directory listing, and
> etc.) that makes iMode successful. More specifically, it is the content and
> services on iMode that add tremendous value. The technology with always-on
> packet mode, ease of use, and etc. helped iMode gained early acceptance.
> However, WAP on CDMAOne can do most of what iMode can do now and has always
> been faster than iMode`s 9.6kpbs and technically, you can take advantage of
> WAP`s card/deck concept. But the KEY differentiator is that DoCoMo realized
> from the beginning that it is the content and services that will drive
> consumer demand, not so much on the technology. They did a lot of educating
> and providing assistant to content providers (ex: publishers) and service
> providers (ex: banks) to create iMode sites even before the official launch
> of iMode service. As a result, from day one consumer sees value in iMode.
> IDO/DDI and same with most operators around the World have focused too much
> of their effort on optimizing the technology while have done poorly in
> creating an effective business model to support the technology. For example,
> it took IDO/DDI until recently to have payment settlement service in place
> and charges that are based-on packet. There has been hardly any efforts from
> IDO/DDI to make WAP easier to use or create content/services with. DoCoMo on
> the other hand is now talking to companies like Digital Hollywood to further
> extend the knowledge and reduce the learning curve on iMode technology.
>
> In conclusion, WAP can also thrived if mobile operators put all the
> components in place to create compelling business cases for both business
> (content/service provider) and mobile subscribers.
>
> Punnamas
>
> >
> >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
> >
> >
> >
>
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Received on Tue Jun 20 18:59:58 2000