NTT DoCoMo Inc is turning to Europe as the market with the greatest potential to expand its most popular Internet service because carriers there are more likely to embrace it than those in Asia, a DoCoMo executive said.
"I see more potential in Europe," said Takeshi Natsuno, general manager of strategy for i-mode, which offers cellphone users online shopping and entertainment. "European carriers are trying to distinguish themselves by providing unique services." I-mode subscribers in Europe will probably top 1 million by the end of next year, compared with about 100,000 at the end of August, Natsuno said in an interview. Japan's largest mobile-phone operator has attracted 35.5 million i-mode users, or one third of Japan's population, in less than four years of service.
DoCoMo is betting on speedy acceptance for i-mode in Europe, where an earlier mobile Internet technology called Wireless Application Protocol, or WAP, failed to take off with users.
The company has invested about Japanese Yen 1.9 trillion (US$15 billion) abroad in foreign carriers such as KPN Mobile NV of the Netherlands to promote use of i-mode, as well as a standard it helped develop for high-speed wireless Internet access that will be started in Europe over the next two years.
DoCoMo began offering international i-mode services in March.
I-mode is available through KPN Mobile, its units E-Plus Mobilefunk GMBH in Germany, BASE in Belgium, KG Telecommunications in Taiwan and Bouygues Telecommunications in France.
Next year, the company will license i-mode-related technology to Telefonica Moviles SA, Spain's largest mobile-phone company.
The agreement is the second in which DoCoMo is providing technology available to a foreign partner without buying a stake.
Europe looks more lucrative because carriers there have already boosted revenues by providing services that allow cellphone subscribers to play games and read newspapers on the move, DoCoMo's Natsuno said.
In October, DoCoMo rival Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile-phone company, began a service similar to DoCoMo's i-mode that allows users to send pictures and play games under the Vodafone Live brand.
Rather than hurting DoCoMo's chances in Europe, Live may actually help the Japanese phone carrier by introducing Web-based phone services to a larger audience, Natsuno said.
Live "should be a plus for us because the more people that recognize the fun elements of the service, the easier we can sell the i-mode concept," Natsuno said.
"We have the odds in our favor" because Vodafone can't team up with its rival carriers in Europe without taking an equity stake, he added. Natsuno is in Hong Kong, attending ITU Telecom Asia 2002, an industry gathering.
Investors, already disappointed with DoCoMo's global strategy after the company wrote off more than half of its investments in carries such as AT&T Wireless Services Inc, are less enthusiastic about DoCoMo's chances in Europe or elsewhere.
DoCoMo's shares have tumbled 18 percent since the beginning of the year, the second-worst performer on the six-member Topix Communications Index.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting