Justin Jameson wrote:
>
> We need to know:
> - how advanced (in terms of design) does the site have to be before we can
> apply to the official menu? (this is unclear from the application form)
Essentially you need to make clear that you provide a service providing
value or fun to a sufficiently large number of Japanese people who are
prepared to pay for your service. You'll also need to fulfill a number
of other conditions, which you can find on DoCoMo's website - these include
a call center for customer support, technical support contact, etc.
> - how long will it take for i-mode to process the application for a 'big'
> player?
"big" or "small" does not seem to decide how long the process takes - we
know some huge players where the process took over a year, and we know
some tiny players where it took weeks. Other factors are more important.
> - are they guaranteed to get on the menu?
They get 1000s proposals per month and accept a few. The success probability
is probably in the single digit %.
> - what 'order of' returns can they expect (and I know this is just a repeat
> of the 'dirty little secret' thread, but ...) if they develop a compelling
> service?
I don't agree with everything in the "dirty little secret" article - remember
that industry insiders are unlikely to share all the inside information.
There are sites making profits now, and there are some which were never
meant to
make profit in isolation, and there are others, which don't make profits
now but hope to do so in the future. There are still others who use imode
activities to raise capital elsewhere etc etc.
Gerhard Fasol
http://www.eurotechnology.com/
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Received on Thu Sep 13 07:42:32 2001