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Your advert here!!! Technical Editors:
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Given i-mode’s track record in Europe, O2 will find it difficult to create a successful servicemmO2 launched its i-mode mobile internet service in the UK over its GPRS and UMTS networks in October 2005, becoming the 12th i-mode operator outside Japan. The move comes almost a year after DoCoMo and O2 first agreed to distribute i-mode in the UK, and it fills the last remaining hole DoCoMo had in a major European market, following launches in Germany, Italy, Spain and France. Branded as “the internet at a touch of a button”, i-mode will allow customers to access online sites such as news, sport and games, as well as content created specifically for the service. O2’s i-mode content partners include the BBC, Financial Times, FHM, BskyB, Egg and lastminute.com, with content divided into 14 categories. Browsing and downloading is priced at £3 ($5.3) per megabyte, which is the same rate that O2 charges for other consumer data services. For i-mode to become a commercial success in the UK, Visiongain has identified the following challenges that O2 must resolve: • Content. Initially, there are 100 dedicated i-mode websites available in the UK, which pales in comparison to the 90,000 in Japan. While the list of content partners is impressive in terms of brand, we believe O2’s content must be expanded rapidly. • Handsets. At time of launch, the service is available through two devices: NEC’s N411i and N343i terminals. Two further handsets from Samsung will be launched in October 2005, but the line-up remains limited and O2 must introduce a greater variety of models to the market (preferably including Nokia), particularly for the upcoming Christmas period. • 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. Among the strengths, O2’s i-mode features an intuitive user interface, providing fast one-button access to e-mail and the mobile internet portal. There are also dedicated buttons that enable users to quickly navigate between i-mode pages. In addition, O2 has declared it will obtain a 14% profit margin on these services, as opposed to the 40-50% rate charged by other European operators, which should attract a greater number of content providers. O2 is pinning great hope on i-mode, planning to further launch i-mode in Ireland in October 2005 and Germany in H1 2006. With data accounting for over 25% of total revenue, O2 is the current mobile data leader among UK operators, and the company believes the launch of i-mode will give it significant competitive advantage and help maintain its No 1 position. To promote i-mode, O2 has promised the largest advertising campaign in its history. This is in stark contrast to Telefonica, which has virtually hidden i-mode behind its own-brand e-mocion portal. Given the relative failure of other i-mode operations around Europe, it will be interesting to see whether O2 can turn i-mode into a success and what effect it will have on O2’s KPI’s. |
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