At ATRE 2006 in Beijing (Asian Technology Round Table) Access CTO Kamada was asked what would need to happen for i-mode to be a success internationally by 2008. “This is a tricky question for Kamada-san, since DoCoMo is their major customer, their first large customer, the reason for their success, and an investor in Access Co...Kamada-san’s answer was that in Japan DoCoMo controlled the handset makers and relationships and was able to deploy a business model with expensive handsets, full capability, and offer subsidies. Outside Japan DoCoMo had no contol over the alliance partners relaitonships and business model in these respects and this hindered i-mode’s potential success in those markets.”
Possibly true, although I think it goes to show that there is no magic answer to mobile services any more than there is a killer application for mobile content. Things have to fit into the overall market and company strategy to be successful...there are many different factors influencing people’s decisions when choosing mobile handsets and carriers.