IV. BENCHMARK
4.1.2 I-Mode Overview
4.1.2.1. What is I-Mode?
Back to January 1997, recognizing that future of wireless network lays on non-voice data, Koji Oboshi, president of DoCoMo charged Keiichi Enoki with setting up a new organization that would concentrate on non-voice communications for retail consumers. Named as Gateway Business, it was working on a new service, called i-mode. I-mode would offer a mobile Internet service to customers over their mobile phones. It was considered as an ecosystem for mobile
Internet services including browsing, downloading, e-mail, and other applications. By the middle
of 2001, i-mode had comprised around 20 million users approximately 20 per cent of the total Japanese population. In 2001, DOCOMO also introduced i-Mode on FOMA™, the world's first 3G commercial mobile service based on W-CDMA. It made the NTT DOCOMO more significant global brand. In 2001, DoCoMo also became the most widely used mobile Internet service in the world. Up to 2010 there are over 48 million subscribers using i-mode. It rapidly grew up and expanded into many services from the initial. The brief i-mode descriptions are listed in table 3 and milestones for i-mode history of development are followed, see figure 9.18
i-mode Characteristic
Mode ―always on‖ i.e. charged on packet but time
Fee Fixed : 300 Yen / Month
Traffic based: 0.3 Yen / 1 packet of 128bytes Physical access on phone ―i‖ button through ‗‗i-menu‘‘
Key URLs
Fundamental services i-mode mail (compatible with internet mail)
Official websites in portal
Unofficial sites Standard Internet standard
User define Programmable in c/i-html code (cHTML) Exchange capability Mail/ URLs between phone and PCs
Table 3 i-mode main characteristic Source: T. Natsuno, "i-Mode Strategy," 2003
Figure 9 i-mode Timeline Source: NTT DoCoMo Website
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The significance of i-mode is the way offering ―always-on‖ functionality. This allows users to keep their devices on but pay only for actual traffic because of the capacity of packet network[10]. Exchangeable data between phone and PCs also provides convenience for users. In one step DoCoMo at that time could make a mobile as pocket PC in narrow sense.
Customers use i-mode through the network carrier (DoCoMo) to access content provided by official or unofficial providers. Content providers provide content in form of data or application to users also via DoCoMo network. The process is depicted in Figure 11
Figure 10 i-mode network Source: T. Natsuno, "i-Mode Strategy," 2003
4.1.2.2. What are i-Mode services?
From i-menu of i-mode are provided numerous services to customer. Even though i-mode menu is in Japanese however users can also access content provided by content provider through English interface. Summary of i-mode service are listed in the table below
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Service Launched Remark Description
i-mode 02/1999 mobile data
service
Mail and Information retrieve
i-appli 01/2000 i-mode with Java The software (programs) to automatically update weather forecast displays, news and to play new games as well
i-area 07/ 2001 Location Based
Service
Application helps the user to check the traffic and store information, other convenient information and the weather forecast for local areas, as well as the map information to the user's current location
i-motion
10/ 2001 Dynamic Video Content
This function related to video distribution programs for i-mode mobile phone terminals and the contents. The high-speed communication service of FOMA (3G) offers customers with the latest movie theater information and details of the sports highlights available in video
i-shot 06/ 2002 Digital Camera
Capability
A feature that provides transfer of still images captured with an i-mode compatible phone. The images could also be sent to phones of other carriers or PCs
i-motion mail 01/ 2003 Video captured via email
This service transfers video captured with an i-motion compatible mobile phone via e-mail. It features a transmission speed of up to 15 frames/sec, thus permitting smooth motion video to be enjoyed with a mobile phone
"Osaifu-Keitai"
07/ 2004 wallet functions "Osaifu-Keitai" refers to mobile phones equipped with contactless IC card, as well as its useful function/services enabled by the IC card.
With this function, mobile phones can be utilized as electronic money, credit card, electronic ticket, membership card, airline ticket, and more
i-channel 09/ 2005 News and related This service distributes the latest news, weather forecasts and other information to i-channel compatible i-mode phones. The information is displayed on a standby screen without any special operation and users can access to more detailed information with a press of a button
"ToruCa" 10/ 2005 info-capture function
The ToruCa service enables users to capture information into their mobile phone with ease, using the mobile phones various interfaces (FeliCa, Mailer, and Infrared etc.). With the captured information you can perform an in-phone search, manage contents simply and easily with the sort function and exchange information hassle free with fellow ToruCa compatible mobile phones. Also, by pushing the
"Details button", even more detailed information could be captured
Table 4 i-Mode services Source: NTT website
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4.1.2.3. What is I-Mode revenue model?
Upkar Varshney classed the DoCoMo with i-Mode revenue model into the centric business model. The network operator (DoCoMo) controls both network access and content. It initiated and welcomed an exclusive set of service providers to join then redistributed benefit along partners [16]. In other words, the business model DoCoMo build on i-mode can be named as a supportive business model in which company shares high revenue with for official content providers [20]. The points of revenue model and benefit sharing mechanism
1. Company keeps a low monthly fee of normally 300 yen (200 yen fee for packet transmission and 100 yen fee for iMode service). Fee for other services are also cheap depending on traffic, for example - e-mail: 1 to 4 yen upon email size, ring tone: 20 yen downloading of still image: about 7 yen (see table 4 for more about services )
2. DoCoMo does the billing integration, extracts the commission of handling bill. DoCoMo hold 9% revenue from all sites for providing integrated billing service to customers then pay the rest of the money to content providers or aggregators (see fig 12).
Figure 11 DoCoMo‘s billing structure and revenue sharing machanism Source: NTT DoCoMo
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Table 5 i-mode service fee Source: T. Natsuno, "i-Mode Strategy," 2003