I cannot agree that DoCoMo are unresponsive to European companies. On the
contrary they are
making every effort to help many small companies in Europe and the USA to work
with them and
their associated handset manufacturers. Ireland has had numerous visits from
all the main Japanese
Handset Manufacturers in the last 4 months who are trying to co-operate -
although with the
shortage of software engineers in Europe - it will take time.
There will be some very surprising moves in the iMode in Europe debate over the
next six months.
But it will happen and with Japanese/Korean handsets. European Cellular
carriers are obsessed
with having a "perceived" technical edge on their competitors. I am aware of
four who are actively
experimenting with HTML browsers on GPRS/GSM handsets for similar services to
iMode.
DoCoMo are to be praised for their open approach to Western developers. The
European handset
manufacturers and telcos could learn a lot from them.
Peter Bellew
CEO, wapprofit
Gustaf Rosell wrote:
> At 15:06 2000-12-19 +0800, you wrote:
>
> >if this is true, then japanese handset makers are little more than R&D
> >centers and OEMs for DoCoMo. their job then becomes one of adding new
> >features and then making the commercial product and then delivering it
> >to DoCoMo. they don't have to worry about product cycles, marketing, or
> >sales since DoCoMo does all that for them. i suspect the case is quite
> >different for someone like Ericsson and Nokia
>
> I agree with some parts of your reasoning. It is clear that the development
> looks quite different. DoCoMo has had a central role in leading the
> development together with companies like Access in specifying the handsets.
> The situation is quite the opposite in the Western World, where there is a
> fairly cemented and uninnovative alliance between the operators and the
> telecom giants. It is the latter who leads the development, though, even
> though lead is not really the right word to use...
>
> Anyway, it seems that DoCoMo have missed this when they go outside Japan.
> They should have joined with some strong operators and other players and
> made a specification for GSM/GPRS together with them. We have tried to
> convince them to do this, but without result so far. In general DoCoMo have
> become less responsive and positive towards co-operation with companies in
> Europe, except for those they invest in. This is really a pity, since a lot
> could be done if momentum could be built around i-mode, with handsets and
> underlying formats.
>
> /gustaf
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> http://xped.io | gustaf_at_xpedio.com | t +46 8 674 50 47 | m +46 70 916 4747
>
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Received on Tue Dec 19 15:54:15 2000