> On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Ken Chang wrote:
>
> > have a look at the Japanese market and you can see i-mode is clearly
> > the worst of all and the winning technology here is WAP.
>
> Hm. You and I seem to have quite different definitions of "win."
I agree with Curt, though this issue has been discussed lot of
times on the list.
Supposing that "i-mode" will become the common flag of Mobile
Alliance's VAS offering, the reason is everything but technology.
AFAIK all this is much more about:
- branding / consolidation of marketing expenses
- increase of negotiation power vs. terminal (technology) vendors
- ability to make competitive offers for frequently travelling
(and high-spending) business users
Offering i-mode could be a natural solution for MA's operators,
also because most of them are #3 operators, obviously reluctant
in following Vfe and incumbents in 3G expenses.
The only "technological" weakness of i-mode in Europe is the
reduced number of attractively branded terminals available
right now, and (probably) reduced support capabilities from
Docomo and NEC, outside Japan.
Giorgio
Received on Tue Oct 7 12:57:55 2003