DoCoMo ties up with SAP

DoCoMo is partnering with SAP to nurture its corporate client base

By Staff and wire reports

TOKYO, Japan -- NTT DoCoMo has signed a memorandum of understanding with German software house SAP to develop services for business customers.

The move highlights the increasing importance that DoCoMo, Japan's dominant mobile carrier, is placing on nurturing its corporate client base as it prepares to be the first in the world to launch third-generation, or 3G, high-speed wireless Internet services.

"Conditions are falling into place where we can provide services for businesses," says Nobuharu Ono, managing director for multimedia development at DoCoMo.

Ono declined to disclose how much the companies would spend on the alliance or give details of a specific product. He says the firms hope to be able to unveil a product in six months to a year.

The tie-up would not involve the creation of a subsidiary, he added.

SAP and its closest competitor, Oracle, create software that integrates global accounting, marketing and production operations for companies. It counts top-notch global firms among its clientele, including Microsoft and Sony.

Asked whether any new enterprise software products would make use of 3G technology or I-mode, DoCoMo's hugely successful Net-enabled mobile phone service that has notched up 20 million subscribers in two years, Ono says that using either system was a possibility.

"We are already seeing signs of a shift towards business use for the I-mode system," he says. "What they want is pinpointed information."

Reuters contributed to this report.

Handset hold-up for DoCoMo 3G launch
March 13, 2001
Japan's NTT DoComo eyes Europe
April 8, 2001

DoCoMoNet
SAP

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.