Wireless service operators in the United States are drooling over the thought of the revenue they could bring in with services similar to those of NTT DoCoMo's i-mode -- the popular Japanese mobile Internet service --but in fact, there are substantial differences in the way Americans and Japanese see and use the Internet that must be considered, writes Editor-In-Chief Andrew M. Seybold in the current issue of Andrew Seybold's Outlook, the authoritative monthly newsletter for the Wireless Internet and Mobile Computing communities.
I-mode was introduced in Japan's wireless market in February 1999, and since that time, it has captured some 8 million users, with an average increased income of $25 per user, Seybold said.
"Many U.S. wireless service operators as well as NTT DoCoMo seem to think that all they have to do is pick up the i-mode experience and drop it in the States or elsewhere and they will have similar results," he wrote. "But there is no substantiation to back this up. I believe that in many respects i-mode is a cultural success -- not a wireless success.
"Perhaps the most significant difference is the way in which we experience the Internet. In the U.S., most teens and business people access the Internet from a desktop computer with a minimum dial-up speed of 33 Kbps -- most have experience with DSL and cable speeds."
However, he noted, in Japan, more than 85 percent of i-mode service customers have never seen the Internet on anything but their wireless phone screen. They have no experience with large graphical files.
They are not accustomed to being able to move sideways between Internet links to get from one site to another. Thus, they don't realize that having to go back to the main menu to get from one site to another is not efficient.
Nevertheless, Seybold said, i-mode service customers are getting information that has never been easily available to them before, when and where they want it. Moreover, NTT DoCoMo has built out its wireless network so that costs are low and coverage is ubiquitous.
"Most folks are accustomed to using their wireless phones indoors and data is just another use for the phone," he wrote. "We do not have good indoor coverage in the U.S. and I suspect that it will be a long time before we do.
"(Wireless operators) have to figure out that if we really take our wireless devices for Internet access we will want access indoors as well as outdoors. If wireless service operators expect to see increases ... they had better get busy. Such growth will occur only when wireless coverage is sufficient for wireless phones to become our primary phones."
In a second report from Japan, Seybold examined NTT DoCoMo's third-generation digital wireless data (MAGIC), which centers on Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), and the company's urgency in promoting the technology to the international market.
"Both the management and engineering sides of NTT DoCoMo truly believe that W-CDMA is head and shoulders above Qualcomm's CDMA technology," he wrote. "I have to wonder whether this has changed now that ... NTT DoCoMo will have to pay royalties to Qualcomm after all.
"It is yet to be seen whether W-CDMA can live up to its billing. However, it is clear that NTT DoCoMo believes in W-CDMA and is willing to expend the funds ... to paint itself as a world leader in wireless and the standard-bearer of IMT-2000 or Wideband CDMA."
In his monthly Mobile Implementation, Contributing Editor Victor Wortman explores an innovative solution for foot patrol police officers that is now being rolled out in the NYPD Blue. The compact, belt-mounted system provides quick and easy access to the same data that patrol officers get on car-mounted mobile data units, with RIM Inter@ctive Pagers serving as the data terminal.
Developed by the Florida systems integrator Datamaxx under an RFP from the New York City Housing Bureau for its officers, the system seems destined for expansion into other areas of the 42,000 member department. Besides the RIM Inter@ctive Pagers and the Datamaxx CyberFORCE software, the system integrates Security Builder from Certicom, message switching from Computer Projects of Illinois, and wireless data service from BellSouth Wireless Data.
Additional features in the issue include Seybold's opinion column, Mobiltorial, and his "Picks and Pans" of the month
[ Home | Contact | MobiChat | Experts database | Let's do it ]
Comments to the content of this page can be posted on the MobiChat discussion group