Top New Stories
1. Dotmobi doesn't dampen i-mode prospects - Ovum
2. DoCoMo enlists sparring partner in fighting Softbank
3. Bulgaria launches 3G i-mode - by end-2006
What's On
The i-mode Content Forum is a media partner for London's Mobile Content World, 19-21 September 2006 - and our members qualify for a 10% discount off the registration price (£1995 + VAT) for all i-mode Content Forum members. more...
For Australia AUGUST 7 - on the event list is Mobile Monday Melbourne - networking for the mobile content industry - when: 6.30pm to 8.30pm 7th August - where: Horse Bazaar, Digital Art Gallery Bar, 397 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne - cost: free. Guest speaker @ 7pm: Walter Adamson, of Digital Investor, speaking on Mobile TV - the next digital content revolution.
If you're interested in mobile search news, see the latest at Goobile.com
Subscribe to i-Mode Business Strategy
1. Dotmobi doesn't dampen i-mode prospects - Ovum
Commenting on the recent good news from UK DoCoMo alliance partner O2, about i-mode, John Delaney of analyst Ovum said he expected i-mode uptake to grow.
"It falls between the traditional fairly closed content-centric portals [like O2 Active and Vodafone Live] and the internet," he added.
"It has potential for people who are not just interested in accessing the internet but need guidance and support, and it provides an optimised version of [some sites] such as eBay, which people find attractive."
Delaney denied that the coming .mobi domain for mobile sites would harm i-mode's prospects. He said .mobi merely presents one of many ways to adapt content for use on mobiles. However, he added that O2 would have to increase the internet-type services it offers on its i-mode to attract more custom.
Jag Minhas, O2's chief i-mode architect, said the firm would probably open its specifications to more third-party content providers at the end of the year. Features planned for next year include an RSS aggregator, called iChannel, which will appear high up on the user interface; and an instant messaging (IM) client.
Post your opinion below
2. DoCoMo enlists sparring partner in fighting Softbank
Rakuten claims to be the operator of Japan's leading online shopping mall. They will develop a mobile phone Internet auction system and begin operating it from last quarter 2006, company officials said. This is a tactical move clearly aimed at Softbank and Yahoo! and their ability to excute a seamlessly branded strategy in this space, as noted by Gerhard Fasol back in May.
This also ties in with i-mode alliance partner O2 UK's release about the success of i-mode and eBay being most popular on i-mode, along with email.
-- see this 1999 article from Japan Inc about Rakuten's founders.
^^Back to top
3 Reasons why you should Join the i-mode Content Forum
Check our Aims & Objectives HERE
3. Bulgaria launches 3G i-mode - by end-2006
Bulgaria's second largest GSM operator and i-mode alliance partner Cosmote's subsidiary, GloBul, unveiled a logo and image.
GloBul also announced plans to launch 3G services by the end of the year, including i-mode. Commenting on GloBul's re-branding, Cosmote Group chief executive Evangelos Martigopoulos, said that GloBul "today is a most valuable asset for the group".
GloBul is the trademark under which Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile offers mobile telecommunications services in Bulgaria.
The company is 100% owned by Cosmote. As of the end of March 2006, GloBul's market share neared 40% and its customer base exceeded 2.56 million people.
4. Flowers by i-mode in Singapore
One of ZDNet Asia's Smart50 companies has taken advantage of IT and i-mode to boost revenues - FarEastFlora.com integrated mobile commerce into its sales strategy last year, according to the ZDNet Asia report.
The partnership with DoCoMo alliance partner StarHub, allows i-mode subscribers to order flowers using their mobile phones, a service not many floral businesses can offer. StarHub is targeting 50,000 i-mode subscribers in its first year of service. (It also hopes to boost its ratio of revenues from data services from 15% to 25% by 2008.)
Far East Flora is run by Ryan Chioh, the son of the founder, who used his US experience as a sales rep for Gateway to take FEF into internet and now mobile commerce. With his IT exposure fresh on his mind, Ryan Chioh initiated a website on his joining the company in 1998. Ecommerce now makes up 15 to 20% of the revenue earned by the flower and gifts department.
5. Retailing innovations - Virgin; O2 & Tesco
Virgin Mobile has announced a new retail strategy focuses on "bringing technology to life and making it meaningful and fun".
The key is "show and sell" or what Virgin calls "try before you buy" - the emphasis being on "taking all of the hassle out of buying and setting up a new phone".
Pointing to some big lessons for those wanting to sell camera phones, and handset upgrades, Graeme Hutchinson, trading director at Virgin Mobile, said: "When Virgin Mobile launched we started selling phones in Virgin Megastores and our competitors said we’d never sell mobiles in record shops, but how wrong they were. We've always found that combining mobile phones with music and entertainment is a perfect way to engage Virgin Mobile customers."
Convert those comments to focus on imaging and you can see one of the current gaping holes in retailing handsets - the association with instant high quality prints and imaging at the point of sale - the missing Show and Sell.
In other mobile retailing news Tesco is aiming to gain a share of the UK mobile phone market with the launch of a new 50:50 joint venture with DoCoMo i-mode alliance partner O2, branded Tesco Mobile. The new company will sell Tesco branded mobile services in the company’s UK stores, using O2's technology and network.
Over the first two years of operation each company will invest £8m pounds in the joint venture. A deal has initially been signed for five years, during which neither partner can sell its stake.
-- See also "How to Redesign the i-mode Sales Process for Success
END |
|
Is there an i-mode project or news that you think we should feature? Email tips@imodestrategy.com. Thanks! | |
Independent audits, analysis, project reviews and i-mode strategy business advice, seminars and round tables, conference chair and speaking, magazine articles and press comment - to discuss these and other opportunities, please call or email. | 
Walter | Email Walter | Call (Australia) +61 403 345 632. | Pascal | Email Pascal | Call (France) +33 670 765 643. | Subscribe to i-Mode Strategy.
| This Weekly Newsletter on the i-mode business ecosystem is bought to you the i-mode Content Forum (iCF) the world's largest and most active i-mode® content trade association. President Pascal Lorne, and VP Asia-Pacific Walter Adamson. See our Aims and Objectives. |
Comments