(keitai-l) M-Commerce

Thomas O'Dowd forwarded:
> > M-commerce alliance formed
	<SNIP>
> > The new mobile phone e-commerce standard would not be restricted to the GSM
> > mobile phone market, which is the de facto standard in Europe and parts of Asia,
> > but would apply to other markets such as the CDMA phones which are gaining
> > popularity in the US.

CDMA, of course, is the target standard for Japan and WCDMA is just
around the corner---much to Europe's chagrin.

	<SNIP>
> > To build the new e-commerce standard the three phone manufacturers will be
> > using technology they jointly developed for WAP, which has become the de facto
> > standard protocol for mobile web-pages.

Like it or not, iMode (a CHTML variant) has the market share in Japan.
As long as DoCoMo keeps it's competitive edge, WAP will continue to be
marginalized here.   Have I got it wrong, but isn't the greater concern
DoCoMo's control over iMode portal?  

Fortress like m-portals that don't allow access from outside KEITAI of
competing systems/companies are a step backward to the bad old days of
MPT monopolies. 

And not to single out DoCoMo......the word on the street in the Bit
Valley (Shibuya-Ebisu) is that the normally forward-thinking  Nokia has
bought the TokyoQ <http:www.tokyoq.com>. From what I hear, Nokia plans
to post all TokyoQ's astute/quirky content on it's own m-site that will
be accessible via a Nokia KEITAI only. Sheesh. Somebody has been smoking
too much lutfisk again.

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