Nik,
>From: Nik Frengle (eseller@eimode.com)
>Date: 03/17/02
>
>Tony,
>According to an NTT DoCoMo USA person I spoke with
last year, the
>proposed i-mode service in the U.S. will use one
handset from a US
>maker, and one from a Japanese maker. I asked him
specifically which,
>but he declined to comment further.
>At that time the venture was due to be out sometime
this spring or early
>summer, but admittedly was behind schedule because of
ATTW's re-spinoff
>as a company. Also, the service, said these people
from NTT DoCoMo,
>would not be called i-mode. At the time I thought
this ridiculous--why
>throw away the very good branding NTT DoCoMo have
done in Japan? Looking
>at what is happening in Europe, it looks as though it
wasn't NTT DoCoMo
>that was doing this but ATTW. Admittedly, i-mode is a
trademark already
>registered to another company in the US, but they
could have bought it
>or something.
>The impression I had from talks with ATTW was that
their i-mode service
>would be a better version of their PocketNet service.
They proposed 3
>portals--one for general consumers, one for young
people, and one for
>business-people. Their general attitude was quite
American,
Well, maybe they are. In fact, that is only one part
of the problem.
There will be more barriers for i-mode to be
successful in US.
And now ATTW and DoCoMo are both at faults.
ATTW has not been adaptive in changing their thinking.
PocketNet
has been a failure; there are less then 700,000
subscribers which
include non-paid subscribers. The paid ones are far
less than 350,000.
ATTW is headed by a group who do not recognize the
true market value
and business model. The story I learned from ATTW is
they had been visited by engineers from Japan in the
past year
but the process has stopped. Partly because there
isn't any progress
in consensus, and partly because the unfortunate event
in US.
The air traffic security and undertone reference of
September 11
with Pearl Habor probably make Japanese nervous as
well. NTT DoCoMo
smartly posted an 'advertisement' in support of USA on
Wall Street
Journal afterwards.
ATTW now is touting 'mLife' that is considered
a advertising failure. It is promoting 'philosophy'
with no substance.
It is hyping things that are not hip. Many expect it
would be 'mDeath'.
Ironically, it comes from a person whose background
was in advertising.
It is obvious that the content and marketing staff in
ATTW do not
have the understanding of the market. It makes people
wonder why
the stock shareholders of ATTW haven't responded to
the heavy drop
of market value and ask these people to be relocated.
NTT DoCoMo, on the other hand, is also being
conservative and some
of its movements raise eyebrows. For instance, DoCoMo
Chair
'announced' in April 2001 that the ATTW GRPS service
would be available
in June/July 2001 and it caused a PR disaster. My
source form ATTW
said it was a disgrace that they have made this error.
It made
ATTW looked like a subsidiary of NTT DoCoMo. Most
recently,
on the first day of NTT DoCoMo stock trading in NYSE,
a big Japan
national flag was hung outside the NYSE building.
It should have been a NTT DoCoMo logo flag. Also, a
journalist told me
that despite DoCoMo USA has been incorporated in US
for almost two and
a half years, DoCoMo USA has only Japanese management
staff.
It seems that they want to keep everything under their
own control.
It is quiet unlike other Japanese corporations that
have gone global.
NTT DoCoMo certainly paints a more conservative
picture.
But the government doesn't seem to care.
Financially, NTT DoCoMo is plagued by the possible
write-off on their
investment on ATTW on top of their loss on KPN.
If i-mode becomes successful in Europe, then ATTW
might change
its thinking and hopefully it will adopt the i-mode
way more faithfully.
NTT DoCoMo can only bet on i-mode in Europe and try to
persuade ATTW
to come to their terms with technology and business
models
under the i-mode brandname. ATTW, however, is
stubbornly wants to prove that they do not need these
expertise.
Right now, both parties are being arrogant and
ignorant. And there will
be a bumpy rides for US i-mode. If there will be any
i-mode in US
at all.
In the mean time, Verizon could introduce the Japan
WAP business model
through the help of their partner Vodafone which owns
J-Phone.
But it is not happening yet. Sprint PCS certainly is
taking the
cues from Japan and importing thin and colorful mobile
phones
from both Japan and Korea. There are also other North
American
wireless services products and devices. Blackbarry
just adds the voice
capacity but its pricing is not for the general
consumers. Hip-Top from
Danger Research will be on the market soon but its
business model
is dubious at best. And Handspring is advertising
their Treo that
turns PDA into a phone .
In general, the US wireless data market is quiet
complex
and competitive. But no appealing mass consumers
market in sight yet.
Tom
>and went
>something like this "we already have PocketNet, which
is a successful
>service. What i-mode brings to the table is a better
understanding of
>the consumer market, and perhaps an interesting
business model, IF we
>choose to adopt it." One truly wonders what NTT
DoCoMo's 16% stake
>actually bought them. PocketNet, in the scheme of
things, is NOT
>successful. ATTW won't even release real subscriber
numbers, but it is
>reckoned at less than a million.
>So, hope this helps.
>Oh, yeah, and the US and Japanese phones running the
service will,
>according to someone I spoke with from Access
Corporation, run the
>Compact Netfront Plus or 3.0 browser that allows WAP
2.0 X-HTML Basic or
>i-mode, much like it appears has happened in Europe.
>Cheers,
>Nik Frengle
>
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Received on Tue Mar 26 22:13:13 2002