Around 40 million Japanese subscribers use i-mode every day. i-mode has become a completely new multi-billion Dollar business and part of the essential infrastructure of Japan, as well as driving the development of the global wireless internet revolution.

Read this report, if you need to understand the rapidly developing wireless internet industry and it's key driver: i-mode. Read this report also, if you are planning to do business in Japan's wireless industry, or if you are thinking to use i-mode for your business in Japan: most businesses in Japan either use i-mode, or even depend on i-mode for efficient operations. Read this report also, if you want to learn a new way to directly contact 40 million Japanese consumers. This report will also help you to understand, what mobile multimedia may look like a few years down the road in USA and Europe.

The report explains imode's business models, user experience, detailed usage statistics, pricing, cash flows, the structure of the industry, location dependent services, security, the new c-mode services, and a lot more in 260 pages, including approx. 45 Figures and 120 Photographs and 25 tables.

• Concepts and Basics
  • i-mode in a nut shell: yesterday and today
  • Scope in Japan, global scope, subscriber numbers for i-mode, EZweb, Jsky/Vodafone live, and H (1999 - 2003)
  • Cumulative subscriber numbers for i-mode, EZweb, Jsky/Vodafone live, and H (1999 - 2003)
  • I-mode Concept: General, business models, current implementation
  • i-Mode's revenue models
  • Typical i-mode customer's monthly bill
  • Correlation between voice and i-mode ARPU
  • Stabilization of ARPU by i-mode, ARPU data for DoCoMo, KDDI, Jsky/Jphone for voice, data and total (1994 - 2003)
  • ARPU data for DoCoMo, KDDI, Jsky/Jphone for voice, data and total (2000 - 2003)
  • Churn data: DoCoMo, KDDI, Vodafone (1996 - 2003)
  • Comments
  • Money flows on i-mode
  • Offers tuned to user's needs
     
• Handsets - where is the "sweet spot" for i-mode handsets?
  • i-mode handsets - a crucial factor for i-mode's success
  • Evolution of i-mode handset displays (Nokia NM502i, NEC N502it, SONY SO 503i, NEC N504iS, FOMA P2102V)
  • Trends towards the "sweet spot"
  • Weight and volume data and trends for DoCoMo, i-mode and FOMA/3G (1990 - 2006)
  • Battery standby time data and trends for DoCoMo, i-mode and FOMA/3G (1990 - 2006)
     
• Japan's market for mobile phones
  • Monthly shipments (data for Jan 2001 - Jul 2003)
  • Market size for camera phones (data and estimations for 2001 - 2004)
  • Market shares of the camera phone market by phone manufacturer (data for 2001 and 2002)
     
• Handsets - examples
  • 2001: Characteristics of some 503i i-Mode handsets
  • DoCoMo's N504iS, with sample images and discussion
  • June 2003: overview of DoCoMo's 505i series
  • DoCoMo FOMA P2102V camera and video 3G i-mode phone
     
• i-appli: JAVA on i-mode
  • i-appli overview
  • i-mode usage data for JAVA handset users compared to average i-mode usage (data for 1999 - 2003)
     
• i-appli: games on i-mode
  • i-mode games overview
  • introduction of 15 of DoCoMo/i-Mode's most important JAVA game partners with images
     
• Official i-mode menu
  • Overview of the official i-mode menu premium sites
  • Market size of premium sites (i-mode pay sites), (market data for the period 1999 - 2003)
  • Which fraction of i-mode subscribers register and pay for premium sites? (data for 1999-2003)
  • For how many premium sites do premium site subscribers register on average? (data for 1999-2003)
     
• I-mode experience 2003 (FOMA, 3G)
  • Navigating the menu, Top menu, The i-menu, The menu list, Menu list - main headings, the weather section
  • A note on waiting times, and latency
     
• I-mode experience 2001 (SONY SO503i)
  • Navigating the menu, Top menu, The i-menu, The menu list, Menu list - main headings, the weather section
  • A note on waiting times, and latency
     
• Unofficial sites, i-mode as a platform and ISP
   
• i-mode Usage and Traffic Profiles
  • Average i-mode data usage (usage data for 1999 - 2003)
  • i-mode data usage specifically for particular groups of i-mode handsets (data for 1999 - 2003)
  • i-mode user profile (by age and gender)
  • i-mode web access statistics by subject area (data for Sept 2000 to Apr-June 2003)
  • typical page view statistics for top ranking i-mode sites (data for Apr-June 2001 to February 2003)
  • i-mode statistics: system access/user/day, i-mode data usage/user/day, and total i-mode system usage for sending and receiving email, for viewing web pages and total traffic (2003)
  • ratio of i-mode traffic to official menu states and non-official sites (data for 1999 - 2003)
  • Ratio of email usage to web usage (data for 2001 - 2003)
     
• i-mode mail and messaging
  • Types of email and message services, basic usage statistics
  • Basic i-mode email specifications
  • About spam email on i-mode
     
• E-moji (image characters) as a competitive tool
  • DoCoMo's emoji
  • J-Phone/Vodafone's emoji
  • How do e-moji travel from DoCoMo to a PC or to a J-Phone terminal?
     
• Japanese language entry
  • Basics, demo, predictive entry systems
     
• M-Commerce and M-Transactions
  • M-Commerce market size information (Graphics of the market size for m-commerce in Japan for 2000-2004 with estimation for 2005)
  • Overview of m-commerce transactions on i-mode
  • Market size of i-mode premium sites (content sales volume data for i-mode official menu content shown graphically for the period 1999-2003)
  • Overview, average number of subscribers registered for pay sites (Graphics: percentage of i-mode subscribers signed up for premium pay sites: data for the period 1999-2003)
     
• Wallet phones overview (i-Mode FeliCa phones)
  • Wallet phone explanation
  • What are wallet phones?
  • Multi-application smart cards integrated into phones: overview
  • P506iC wallet phone image and explanation
  • P506iC: screen image for JAVA e-cash (electronic cash) applications
  • e-cash application at the supermarket check-out (POS, point-of-sale)
  • mobile phones as train tickets
  • mobile phones as event and concert e-tickets
  • mobile phones as air tickets
  • mobile phones as e-cash for everyday payments, mobile phones in the games parlor
  • FeliCa Networks Inc. Overview, and capital structre (Graphics: capital structure for the period Jan-June 2004)
     
• Security
  • Security, SSL
  • Finger print recognition
     
• QR-codes, 2D bar codes - a de-facto standard
  • 2D bar codes: overview
  • Using 2D bar codes as part of a payment system
  • QR code applications: for information access (input)
  • QR code for payment (output)
  • More applications and discussion
     
• Location dependent services - i-area
  • i-area: Overview, User interface, services, comments, with screen image
  • i-area: User interface (with screen images)
  • i-area: services (list of selected services)
  • i-area: comments and discussion
     
• C-mode - Coca-Cola vending machines linked to i-mode
  • Overview, the Cmode vending machine (with images)
  • Purchasing goods and services with Cmode (graphics schematically showing the operation)
     
• Advertising and marketing on i-mode
  • Overview, Banner advertisements
  • Message free
  • The toku-suru menu
  • D2C
  • Creative advertising with i-mode
  • Before you consider advertising on i-mode
     
• i-mode industry structure
  • Major sectors
  • Outstanding examples of i-mode industry companies
     
• i-mode - trends and risks
   
• WAP versus i-mode
   
• Why is i-mode so successful in Japan?
  • i-mode email
  • DoCoMo's win-win-win strategy
     
• DoCoMo and Japan's mobile telecommunications landscape
  • How did Japan's telecom industry become one of the world's most advanced and most competitive?
  • Japan's mobile phone companies (2004)
  • Overview of Japan's mobile 3G internet systems
  • Five large groups competing - not monopoly for NTT! (graphics visualizing Japan's communication landscape including recent transactions and mergers
  • Graphical data of annual sales for the five largest Japanese telecommunications groups (data for fiscal 2003/2004)
  • DoCoMo's main global competitors (listing and discussion)
  • Comparing NTT and DoCoMo internationally (graphical data comparing the market capitalization of Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, DoCoMo, NTT, Verizon and AT&T Wireless in August 2004)
  • Japan's mobile phone market, (subscriber numbers by carrier, data for 1998-2004)
  • Market shares in Japan's mobile market (market share data for the period 1998-2004 for the top four mobile carriers)
  • Focus on the KDDI/AU vs J-Phone/Vodafone battle (market share data for KDDI/AU and J-Phone/Vodafone for the period 1998-2004)
  • Monthly net subscriber growth for the top four carriers (graphics show data for 1998-2004)
  • Monthly net subscriber growth for the top four carriers (graphics show data with focus on the period 2002-2004)
  • Overview of Japan's mobile 2G internet systems
  • 3G introduction in Japan, subscriber numbers for 3G subscribers in Japan (data for the period 2001-2004 with preview for 2004-2006)
  • First wave of 3G roll-out (2001-2005)
  • Wireless internet subscription figures (1999-2004)
  • i-mode subscription numbers compared to competitors (market data graphically shown for 1999-2004)
  • Comparing DoCoMo ARPU to competitors
  • ARPU data for 1994-2003 for Japans top mobile carriers
  • ARPU data with focus on 2000-2004 for Japans top mobile carriers
  • Churn for DoCoMo and competitors KDDI and J-Phone/Vodafone (graphical data for 1996-2003 for top 3 mobile carriers including PHS)
     
• DoCoMo's globalization strategy
  • DoCoMo's international strategy
  • i-Mode Alliance, outline
  • Graphical overview of NTT-DoCoMo's international partnerships (as of June 14, 2004)
  • Graphical overview of NTT-DoCoMo's international partnerships with focus on Europe (as of June 14, 2004)
  • i-Mode alliance (tabular overview with basic data of i-Mode alliance partners)
  • Data and information for each i-Mode Alliance member
  • i-Mode global brand development
     
• Developing content for i-mode
  • General, chmtl
  • Building business in the i-mode arena
     
• Comparing Japan with the GSM area
  • Handsets are crucial
  • ARPU: Japan compared with GSM countries
  • Comparing subscription ARPU and Prepay ARPU for different countries (data for the year July 2002 - June 2003
  • ARPU for data and voice (2000-2003)
  • Table comparing Japan with GSM countries, including trends