i-mode Strategy

First introduced in 1999, i-mode was the world's first smart phone for Web browsing. The i-mode wireless data service offers color and video over a variety of handsets. Its mobile computing service enables users to do telephone banking, make airline reservations, conduct stock transactions, send and receive e-mail, play games, access weather reports and have access to the Internet. It can offer a wide array of websites from internationally known companies such as CNN to very local information.
In Japan, the number of i-mode users is close to a sensational 13 million. This means that 10% of Japan's total population are using i- mode after not even 2 years of its existence.

i-mode Strategy authored by one of the main architects behind i-mode:

• Discusses the success story of i-mode to date
• Offers highly probable future projections for the technology

Written by the most highly respected expert in the field, i-mode Strategy is an absolute must for everyone wanting to know more about NTT DoCoMo's sustainable business model and i-mode strategy

Table of Contents

About the Author.

Foreword to the Japanese Edition.

Foreword to the English-language Edition. 

Color Plates.

1 Success.

IT Businesses Grow far More Than Expected or do not Grow at All.

i-mode: Born with a Sense of Crisis.

Evolution of a Text-Based e-Mail Culture.

Beyond Talk.

New Services Emerge.

A Business Model the Wired Internet Cannot Support.

All Eyes on DoCoMo.

2 Concepts.

Why Has Our Success in the IT Business Been so Overwhelming?

Differences in Platform are Meaningless.

Why is the Win so Overwhelming?

Life Today: Complex Systems.

3 Practice.

Most People are Conservative; They Reject What Seems too New.

DoCoMo’s Role: Two Points Only.

Sharing the Revenues Matters.

Keep Service Providers Motivated.

What is Internet-Style Marketing?

Finding i-mode Champions.

4 Alliances.

Win–Win Relationships.

Different Industries, Different Types of Alliances.  

Alliances with Broadcasters.

Seamless Links between Mobile and Fixed-Line Networks.

Future Plans Call for Adding PC-Internet Users.

Point & Mobile Strategy and Convenience Store Alliances.

Printing: Our Next Project.

Alliances to Strengthen Electronic Settlement.

5 Effects.

A Team of Individuals Working with the Same Ideas, Hand-in-Hand, is Stronger Than One Following a Single Boss.

The Information Convenience Store and Gemlike Specialty Sites.

More Corporate Subscribers than We Had Expected.

Motorcycle Couriers and Exit Interviews.

Self-Organization in Off-the-Shelf Software.

Another Effect of Adopting HTML.

A Fast Conversion from a Telecom to an Internet Company.

An Organization of Empowered Individuals is a Far More Powerful Organization.

Accelerated Mobile Phone Evolution.

Like the Auto Industry in the 1980s.

The Media Rush.

Word of Mouth: Self-Organization among Individuals.

6 TheFuture.

Emergence and Self-Organization on a Global Scale Gives Rise to Greater Positive Feedback.

The IMT-2000 Age is Drawing Near.

Seconds of Real Enjoyment.

Striking a Balance between Subscribers and Service Providers.

e-Money from Mobile Phones.

Alliances with Home Appliance Manufacturers: Another Possibility.

For Export: Our Business Model.

Appendix 1: History of i-mode.

Appendix 2: Proposal for the Basic i-mode Concept.

Appendix 3: The i-mode Menu List.

Further Reading.

Afterword to the Japanese Edition.

Index.