(keitai-l) Re: German i-mode user numbers

greetings all,

I'd say it's too early to tell.

everyone have to climb the S curve very slowly at the beginning:
DoCoMo itself had about 5,000 subs in the first month, and now
they are at the top end of the curve ... I'm not sure if it was
really only the last week of Feb 1999 (anyone please tell me).

an important factor behind the i-mode success is vast, unchecked
investment.  before they had even figured out the idea of wireless
Internet services by studying HDML services over CDPD in the US,
DoCoMo upgraded their network to PDC-P DoPa, with in mind the only
application a wireless modem for an external e-mail terminal.

i-mode is no more than a forked back lane of WAP, and the miracle
is more like one walked through a mined field without hitting any.
it's a legend to be followed by the braves, not the smarts.

btw, regarding GPRS, it's a failure already if you have to tell
your customer the technology.

cheers,
  Ken


From: Petri Ojala <ojala@iki.fi>
Reply-To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
To: <keitai-l@appelsiini.net>
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: German i-mode user numbers
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 18:37:35 +0300

>i think i-mode may have had a better start in europe if it was
>concentrated on usability rather than multimedia. A slim stylish
>folding phone with just a bright monochrome screen but long battery
>life may attract us germans more than that mostrous "multimedia
>terminal" n21i.

Without some technical gimmics the introduction of european i-mode would be
even more difficult.

A 503-series i-mode phone is around 95-115 g and 93-105 x 47-50 x 21-27 mm,
standby time 210-470 h, call time 130-145 min.  If you compare that to e.g.
Nokia 8310 (84 g, 97 x 43 x 17-19 mm, standby 100-350 h, talk time 135-240
min) or SonyEricsson T68 (84 g, 100 x 48 x 20 mm, standby 165-290 h, talk
time 180-780 min), you'll notice that the current GSM models are actually
smaller than the i-mode phones and have very reasonable stand-by and talk
times (I believe in both cases the specs and reality are equally different).
So the selling point is really more in the features, how the colour screen
(if available) is used, what mobile services are built on top of the network
services etc.

Funny though, I have considered both 8310 and T68 too big, especially the
thickness, and the i-mode phones are even worse.. ;-(

Perhaps the european i-mode should have been introduced in a more "virgin"
territory, like the Baltic countries, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, etc..

Petri


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