DoCoMo Control Hamstrings Australian i-mode
When Australian operator Telstra linked up with NTT DoCoMo to offer i-mode, it almost sounded like the company saw it as a magic remedy to start generating big bucks from mobile content. But reports out of the country 9 months later say Telstra is struggling to grow its i-mode business -- and blames DoCoMo's micromanagement for the woes, saying everything has to be approved by the Japanese company, from content to advertising. Less than 50,000 customers have signed up for the service and the amount of content they're accessing is on the wane. Uptake is slowing as well, which potentially causes a problem as DoCoMo requires Telstra to have 1 million users within 3 years in order to retain its license. While DoCoMo's guidance and control over i-mode were one of the reasons for its initial success in Japan, the bureaucracy it's reported to have implemented with Telstra can't make things easy for the Australian company. That said, other i-mode licensees around the world seem to be seeing good growth and haven't complained about DoCoMo interference. Telstra, though, doesn't have a good track record when it comes to mobile content: its two previous portal efforts have also been regarded as failures.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
