I have to say that I don't understand the point.
I guess my going in possition is that iMode is successful here despite, not
because of the technology. iMode is a brilliant marketing scheme combined
with the force of a company that owns their market. Basically, if you
wanted to play in this market period you must support DoCoMo. I don't
think that the technology is either a benefit or hinderance. The same is
true of WAP and it's so-called problems. The Au wap services here are
pretty good and when they complain about iMode it's because of unfair
market access and not technology. The Au companies have asked to have NTT
broken up so that they have a chance to compete.
The first question you have to ask yourself is how successful would iMode
be anywhere else? Sure there are 10million users registered here. Most of
those users use exactly 2 things: email and games (oh, and Hello Kitty
screensavers..). Would it be sucessful in the EC or US anyway (in other
words, how many Eurpoeans are excited about wap screensavers and typing
email on a cell phone?).
OK, let's say you get past that. iMode is successful in the same way
Amazon is - lots of traffic. Then you need to ask yourself what stops WAP
from having the same success?
Is it the language? True cHTML is easier than WML - just as HTML is easier
than XML (cHTML is a subset of HTML, WML is a part of XML) - but you still
have to create special content for the phone and can not just use your HTML
web pages (or it will look like crap). And really, how tough is any markup
language?
How about contents? Well, I have both an iMode and a EZWeb Phone (WAP).
Today, there are 10 Million iMode users and about 4 million EZWeb
(interestingly, this is a similar ratio to the overal number of phones from
each company). Now with iMode I have a tremendous number of local sites,
banks, etc. and I think that is exactly what is needed here in Japan. If my
Japanese were better, I would probably have no need for any other solution.
Having said that, my EZ Web phone has access to sites all over the world.
One could argue that the Japanese market doesn't care as much about the
external world and/or English content (this may well be true, I don't know)
but I think this model is not as logical in places like Europe or the US.
Personally, I use my EZWeb phone to look at US newspapers to check on my
home sports teams, Look up book reviews at Amazon, get my email from
Hotmail, and sync my address book and calendar with my Pilot through Yahoo.
I can not do that on iMode and will never be able to until NTT convinces
the rest of the world to go to that standard.
Now, the argument does make sense to me that NTT can just dictate what
technologies are appropriate whereas like any good committee WAP needs
years to decide what type of paper to write the minutes on. Therefore,
Java phones can be thought out, developed, and rolled out on DoCoMo while
the rest of the WAP Forum is still deciding on Java vs other technologies.
Having said that, would any other solution work in the fragmented markets
of the rest of the world?
Cost is also certainly an issue. One of my friends from the EU told me
that just from trying her WAP service for a month, she spent the equivelent
of 400$ usd and felt she barely used the service. Certainly an argument
for a packet-based network!
Phone turnover is another. I have been told that here in Japan the average
phone turnover is once every 4-5 months. This allows you to get the latest
technology into the market right away. In Europe almost no WAP phones even
exist. Of those that do, most have gone to early adopters, not teenagers
checking their email or getting movie tickets. In the US there are usually
large penalties for turning over your phone after less than one year. On
my ATT phone, I believe it was a 300$ fee for dropping the service after
less than 1 year and if I needed to replace my phone I didn't get a
discount on a new one.
Maybe I'm missing the point entirely. I just think that way too much is
made of the technology and current level of contents. I think that if
iMode started on WAP (yes I know that it wasn't released yet), then it
would have been just as popular and have the same, if not more content.
Jason
keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net
08/15/2000 11:50 AM ZE9
Please respond to keitai-l@appelsiini.net
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
cc:
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: New member/i-mode stumbles?
I agree. Whilst a packet network is probably a prerequisite for a
successful
wireless data service, it alone does not guarantee success.
NTT DoCoMo very specifically chose and continues to choose open technology
standards (HTTP, cHTML, Java) to encourage a wealth of contents.
Also, I think DoCoMo could keep ALOT more than 9% of billing charges if
they
wanted to, but they don't b/c they make more on packet use and want to
encourage
more use. And I agree with Bruce that 9% probably barely covers infra
costs.
The WAP Forum's biggest failure has been it's excessive inclusion of
technologists, operators, etc. and not enough contents providers. WML and
other
WAP protocols are a perfect example of what happens when very smart
engineers
invent technically brilliant standards that are completely out of touch
with
business reality.
DoCoMo, on the other hand, when it was first devising i-mode, went and
spoke to
potential contents providers (like banks) and found out that, for example,
they
had all just gotten the hang of html, so if they could continue to use
their
html skills and existing web infrastructure they'd be much more willing to
provide contents for i-mode. And DoCoMo listened.
Granted, anyone can join the WAP Forum and participate in the
decision-making.
But that's alot different than if all of Europe's operators asked all the
banks,
newspapers, and video game makers what they wanted/needed in order to
bother
making wireless contents.
r e n
Bruce Kirk wrote:
> There seems to be commonly-held believe in Europe at the moment that the
> imminent introduction of high-speed GPRS packet networks will
miraculously
> solve all the teething problems associated with WAP 1.0 and beyond. I'm
not
> 100% convinced.
>
> Accessing content over CSD is a problem (reliability, cost, convenience,
> etc.) and packet will make this a more attractive proposition...However,
the
> success of i-mode has got nothing to do with bandwidth. In Japan, it's
> already possible for users to have access to EZ Web's WAP service on a
64K
> packet-link, but it's still i-mode's 9.6K service which has build up a
10M+
> user-base. What's the point of increased data-speeds if you can only get
10K
> of memory on the handset with limited CPU capability?
>
> The success of i-mode comes down to NTT Docomo choosing (perhaps by
> accident) to replicate the internet experience for a mobile device rather
> than build something again from scratch a la WAP Forum. The choice of
cHTML
> as a mark-up language and open access has allowed a huge community of
> unofficial content sites to grow in Japan (about 18,000 the last time I
> looked which account for 40% of total i-mode traffic). It's pretty easy
to
> develop a site in cHTML...but how many developers out there are going to
> learn WML or rely on pretty unreliable content convertors? cHTML enabled
> handsets support (or will support very soon) colour screens, gifs,
> animation, MIDI, SSL, Java...etc., etc. ... If you want to introduce
these
> types of rich content features on WAP then you're going to have to wait
for
> the WAP Forum to debate, agree and then define them. It just doesn't make
> sense.
>
> re: Business Models ... People concentrate on the fact that Docomo makes
9%
> on the 5-600 content sites. Big deal ... I doubt if the revenue raised
from
> that channel would be enough to cover their monthly stationery costs. The
> success comes down to the fact that there is content out there which
people
> want to access (which isn't happening on WAP) and the content is in a
format
> which closely resembles the internet (rather than black and white minitel
in
> WAP's case) ... This in turn generates more data traffic and voice calls
> which is where Docomo make their money.
>
> The way the European operator and vendor community have seized upon the
> recent i-mode network failures as a sign that it somehow "doesn't work"
may
> just be a case of sour grapes on their part ... and perhaps insecurity
from
> those who have staked their careers and future on WAP. I'm sure the
> boardrooms of Detroit in the 1970s were full of similarly desperate
> sentiment about the success of compact Japanese cars in the American
market.
> "It's a cultural thing ... will never take-off here ... nothing to worry
> about ..."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> ·ol : Peter Roxburgh <peter.roxburgh@securetrading.com>
> ˆ¶æ : keitai-l@appelsiini.net <keitai-l@appelsiini.net>
> “úŽž : 2000”N8ŒŽ14“ú 19:22
> Œ–¼ : (keitai-l) Re: New member/i-mode stumbles?
>
> >Susan
> >
> >Europe is perched on the edge of packet networks; we may then see an
> >explosion of I-mode type services. There is nothing stopping operators
> using
> >the same billing models and 'content-alliances' as NTT - other then
shear
> >greed. Most European operators have tried to keep control (and the
revenue
> >streams) with WAP; the I-mode model would require a massive paradigm
shift.
> >
> >Could you please explain how WAP plays into this? If what's important
about
> >i-mode is the business model
> >(and I agree), isn't it the same for the European carriers? Or does WAP
> >somehow
> >allow them to limit users' access to
> >sites? My apologies if this is a ridiculously uninformed question.
> >
> >
> >European carriers have the same options available to them as any other
> >operator. Yes, the important thing about i-mode is the business model.
And
> >yes, the European operators could have adopted this model with WAP, but
> they
> >choose not to.
> >
> >
> >Limiting user's access if fairly simple with WAP. You can block your
site
> to
> >any user that has not come through your WAP gateway (or any other
choosen
> >gateway). However, by 'keeping control' operators do not have to block
> users
> >visiting other sites.
> >
> >
> >Peter Roxburgh
> >Mobile Solutions Developer
> >peter.roxburgh@securetrading.com
> >http://www.securetrading.com
> >Tel: +44 (0) 1248 672007
> >Fax: +44 (0) 1248 672017
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net
> >[mailto:keitai-l-bounce@appelsiini.net]On Behalf Of
> >susank@mbizcentral.com
> >Sent: 11 August 2000 17:45
> >To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
> >Subject: (keitai-l) Re: New member/i-mode stumbles?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
--
ascii: r e n f i e l d
octal: \162 \145 \156 \146 \151 \145 \154 \144
hex: \x72 \x65 \x6e \x66 \x69 \x65 \x6c \x64
morgan stanley dean witter japan
e-business technologies | engineering and strategy
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Received on Tue Aug 15 08:42:01 2000