I-mode widens menu as users top 20m


DoCoMo will now allow any Web page operator to bill for subscriptions on its service

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The 20 million user mark

I-mode the dominant carrier

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By Kristie Lu Stout
CNN.com Writer

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese telco NTT DoCoMo will revamp its i-mode Internet access service, opening up its proprietary menu to additional Web sites.

DoCoMo will widen the content offering beyond its proprietary menu of 1,480 premium sites and 40,053 independent sites, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.

Analysts say there have been moves in the government to open DoCoMo's i-mode service, which has now passed the 20 million subscriber mark.

Web site operators have waited in line to bid for a listing on DoCoMo's i-mode menu, often without success.

DoCoMo will now make public its standards for selection and allow any Web page operator to bill for subscriptions on its service by the end of the month.

The 20 million user mark

QUOTE

"The walled garden approach is becoming something of an outdated business model." - Nick Ingelbercht, Gartner Group

The mobile carrier passed the 20 million i-mode user mark in Japan last weekend, boasting a significantly high penetration of over 50 percent of the subscriber base.

Outside Japan, only one to two percent of the subscriber base uses mobile data services.

Analysts say i-mode is generating over $20 a month in revenues from premium content, packet charges, and subscription services.

"While the other cellular carriers are struggling to generate new revenue streams, DoCoMo is reaping substantial profits from mobile data services," says Gartner Group mobile analyst Nick Ingelbercht.

Part of i-mode's success has been its stranglehold on the market.

I-mode the dominant carrier

"It is the dominant mobile carrier. In many ways, it raised a concern in Japan for maintaining its control over who the main content providers are," says Ingelbercht.

Ingelbercht says the government was motivated by fair competition issues to open up the i-mode service to all Internet content providers.

"In the long run, it is better for DoCoMo. The walled garden approach is becoming something of an outdated business model."

DoCoMo shares were higher in early Tokyo trade at 1.9 million yen, bouncing up 3.24 percent after heavy selling sent the shares to 18-month lows on Monday.