I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

1

“I-mode” in Japan:How to Explain its

DevelopmentArnd Weber, Bernd Wingert

ITAS, Karlsruhe Research Centre (Germany)

Subsidised by:

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

2

Objectives

To understand i-mode success

To understand cultural factors

To learn lessons

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

3

Advancedness of Japan

68 million mobile Internet users

World record ARPU 60 € (~10% 200 €)

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

4

Success Factors of i-mode

Openness to Internet

Low fees for customers

High share for content providers

Operator control of value chain

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

5

Open Questions

1. Why is competition so fierce?

2. Why did DoCoMo put marketing decisions first?

3. Why did DoCoMo design i-mode to be open to Internet?

4. Why do operators control value chain?

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

6

Findings

1. Why fierce competition?

Competition in radio infrastructure Unfair behaviour of Docomo (PDC),

therefore KDDI chose cdmaOne

Fight against big DoCoMo Abolishment of long-run contracts through DDI

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

7

Findings

2. Why marketing first? Need to be successful (Matsunaga) „For getting more than 10 million subscribers“

(Matsunaga)

3. Why openness of i-mode? „Variety of information is essential“

(Hashimoto)

Interviews April 2004 – interim results

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

8

Findings

4. Why control of value chain?

„You guys avoided competition“ (Natsuno)PHS, PDC, cdma2000, W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA...

„Mentality“, 安心感 (Kanda, Tsuchiyama)

I-m

od

e ,

We

be

r, F

ZK

IT

AS

, IT

S B

erli

n 2

00

4

9

Lessons for Europe

Europe took lessons:i-mode in Europe, Vodafone live, t-zones

But: User interfaces not always easy,

little interest in openness

More lessons needed? Matter of mentality, innovation culture? More competition needed?