I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin “I-mode” in Japan: How to Explain its Development Arnd Weber, Bernd Wingert ITAS, Karlsruhe Research Centre (Germany) Subsidised by:

I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin Objectives u To understand i-mode success u To understand cultural factors u To learn lessons

I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin Advancedness of Japan u 68 million mobile Internet users u World record ARPU 60 € (~10% 200 €)

I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin Success Factors of i-mode u Openness to Internet u Low fees for customers u High share for content providers u Operator control of value chain

I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin 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-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin Findings 1. Why fierce competition? u Competition in radio infrastructure u Unfair behaviour of Docomo (PDC), therefore KDDI chose cdmaOne u Fight against big DoCoMo u Abolishment of long-run contracts through DDI

I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin Findings 2. Why marketing first? u Need to be successful (Matsunaga) u „For getting more than 10 million subscribers“ (Matsunaga) 3. Why openness of i-mode? u „Variety of information is essential“ (Hashimoto) Interviews April 2004 – interim results

I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin Findings 4. Why control of value chain? u „You guys avoided competition“ (Natsuno) PHS, PDC, cdma2000, W-CDMA, TD-SCDMA...  „Mentality“, 安心感 (Kanda, Tsuchiyama)

I-mode, Weber, FZK ITAS, ITS Berlin Lessons for Europe u Europe took lessons: i-mode in Europe, Vodafone live, t-zones u But: User interfaces not always easy, little interest in openness u More lessons needed? u Matter of mentality, innovation culture? u More competition needed?