About
Publication Information
Subscriptions
Permissions
Advertising
Journal Rankings
Best Article Award
Press Releases
Resources
Access Options
Submission Guidelines
Reviewer Guidelines
Sample Articles
Paper Calls
Contact Us
Submit & Review
Browse
Current Issue
All Issues
Featured
Latest
Topics
Videos
Cases
Subscribe
California Management Review
California Management Review is a premier academic management journal published at UC Berkeley
Search
Article Information
NTT DoCoMo and Its i-mode Success: Origins and Implications
Ratliff, John
44
/
3
(
Spring
2002
):
55
-
71
In slightly over two years, NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading wireless telecommunications network provider, has been able to win over 30,000,000 subscribers to i-mode, its mobile Internet service. I-mode represents the first successful implementation of the convergence of the Internet and mobile telephony into a new industry. This article examines the origins of i-mode’s success, both in terms of NTT DoCoMo’s technological strategy and business model and why Japan has proven such a fruitful environment for mobile Internet. It also explores whether i-mode’s success provides a global first-mover advantage to NTT DoCoMo’s plans to employ strategic partnerships to spread the i-mode standard.
