Top New Stories
1. Fuel-cells seem real for mobile
2. Napster heads to Japan with DoCoMo
3. Music key to attracting subscribers
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...
The iCF is also a Media Partner for the Mobile Gambling, Gaming & Lotteries Summit North America 2006 and the 2nd annual Mobile Gambling Summit Asia 2006. The North America Summit is October 3-4, in Montreal, and the Asian Summit from October 31 - November 1, in Hong Kong. Read more, and register here.
For Australia - on the event list is Mobile Monday Melbourne - networking for the mobile content industry - when: 6.30pm to 8.30pm 4th September - where: Horse Bazaar, Digital Art Gallery Bar, 397 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne - cost: free. Guest speaker @ 7pm: Jeff Smith, Surf Kitchen. Jeff Smith has been in the Wireless Data industry for 7 years working in San Francisco, London and now Melbourne.
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1. Fuel-cells seem real for mobile
The move to a fuel-cell powered mobile seems practical and not too distant according to recent reports from DoCoMo.
At the Fuel Cell Development Information Center (FCDIC) at a seminar titled "Dawn of the age of fuel cell for mobile devices" on August 30, 2006 DoCoMo talked about the requirements of fuel cells for use in mobile phones.
DoCoMo co-developed a fuel cell that can be used as an exterior recharger with Aquafairy in July 2006 - in a bid to commercialize it as early as in 2007.
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2. Napster heads to Japan with DoCoMo
At the recent Napster earnings call conference their activities in Japan and with DoCoMo were rated as a highlight by CEO Chris Gorog. Napster.com now offers an ad-supported, free music service, and had revenue of $28.1 million, and ended the first quarter with a total of $98 million on its balance sheet, is focused on the continued expansion and development of Napster Mobile products, including an alliance with DoCoMo.
Masao Nakamura, CEO of DoCoMo recently said in The Japan Times, "Napster will take a very important role in DoCoMo's music service strategy, and I have great expectations for this new project."
Gorog said that Napster's alliance with DoCoMo is the result of their recent controlling investment in Napster's Japanese joint venture partner, Tower Records Japan. DoCoMo has publicly announced that its handsets will support Windows Media audio and, therefore, will be Napster To Go compatible. Golog said that he would disclose any additional details about the launch, but noted that Japan is the second-largest music market in the world.
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3. Music key to attracting subscribers
DoCoMo subscribers who move to other operators will be charged an Mobile Number Portability transfer fee of 2,100 yen (about US$18). Meanwhile KDDI has stated that it expects its MNP system to alter the market share distribution - the current leader is DoCoMo, with a 53% share, or 51.9 million subscribers. KDDI follows with 23.9 million subscriptions, or a 24% market share, and is betting on the introductions to boost its share to 30 million subscribers.
A key thrust to attract more subscribers to KDDI is its music offers on mobile. KDDI started a music download service in November 2004 based on a CDMA 1x WIN connection at 24 Mbits/second and are now aiming for better-than-iPod sound quality.
Toward that end, Yamaha Corp. developed a sound generator chip that integrates the DiMagic Bandwidth Extender (DBEX) function from DiMagic, a Tokyo venture company specializing in virtual 3-D sound processing. DBEX restores the high-frequency range and the minute elements in the midrange that are lost when the original sound is compressed. Yamaha supplied the chip and collaborated with KDDI in tuning the acoustic performance of the handsets, from the sound generator to the speaker and earphones, which is now launched by KDDI in its handsets.
4. DoCoMo's payment innovator jumps ship
In an important move, Carl Atsushi Hirano, a key executive behind of i-mode's alliance and payment strategies, has joined Market Platform Dynamics "to help clients devise profitable internet and mobile payment and content strategies".
From 1999 until 2006, Hirano led DoCoMo's i-mode Alliances of the Multimedia Service Department and was Managing Director of DoCoMo.com, a corporate venture capital and consulting firm on mobile content, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of DoCoMo. Hirano also spearheaded i-mode's entry into the credit card business by acquiring shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Card, and contributed to a business and capital alliance with Rakuten, and a business alliance with Tower Records Japan (see previous item). Hirano was born in the US.
In the thrust and disruptive dynamics as payment systems move to merchant-friendly and non-bank-associated systems Hirano will be a loss to DoCoMo and a huge gain to Market Platform Dynamics - they'll be worth tracking.
5. Business don't buy entrepreneurs' help
Allucher Inc, a small DoCoMo subsidiary that focused on "helping businesses use wireless phones more efficiently," has been axed for failing to meet its revenue and profit targets. Allucher Inc. had two employees and $384,000 in capital.
It had been established in 2004 under an internal system to encourage entrepreneurship among DoCoMo’s employees. DoCoMo described Allucher as providing marketing and consulting services "on the efficient use of mobile phones for businesses, particularly firms that provide products and services for women." It's an interesting segment and one that should have had great potential, but Allucher wasn't able to sell the idea to customers. The homepage has already been deleted.
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