A lot of operators are viewing i-mode as the best chance for mobile data to be a success…a few weeks ago UK’s O2 launched the service.
I-mode business Strategy has written about a report from Visiongain outlining the challenges O2 will have to overcome for its i-mode service to be a success…among them, the fact that there’s only 100 i-mode websites in the UK (compared to 90,000 in Japan) and there’s only two handsets available. In the mobile world variety is the spice of success…of course, O2 isn’t alone in that — there’s a story trumpeting the fact that Singapore’s StarHub carrier has lined up 50 content providers for the launch of its i-mode service this year. Fifty. That being said, i-mode has been in Japan for a long time and I suspect the number of i-mode sites has been growing throughout that period…I have no idea how many sites were available when the service first launched.
Another issue raised by Visiongain was positioning: “O2 must more effectively articulate to end-users how i-mode sits besides its O2 Active portal and how i-mail differs from SMS and MMS.” Mobhappy isn’t impressed with the marketing campaign questioning the wisdom of linking i-mode with WAP, even to emphasise that it’s faster. The article points out that the advertising doesn’t explain why i-mode is a better way to access mobile content than WAP — in fact, many of the ads don’t give any indication i-mode is about mobile content at all. We’ve all heard of i-mode, but the ads are meant to be for people who don’t read the specialist press. Even the website — I-am-i-mode.co.uk — doesn’t explain very much. It needs to be explained and promoted a lot more clearly to consumers to be a success…
Related stories:
–NTT DoCoMo Sees Imode ARPU Continue To Rise
–@ MCW: iMode Gains Fans In Europe
–I-mode Was An Accidental Success
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