Phone Battle Brewing Between iMode And WAP
(08/11/00, 8:56 p.m. ET) By Kim Renay Anderson,
techweb.com
The NTT DoCoMo Mobile Communications Network is expanding its iMode data service technology beyond Japan, potentially sparking a showdown with WAP, analysts said. WAP, or wireless application protocol, is a standard for providing cellular phones with Internet access and was introduced in 1997 by Phone.com Inc(stock: PHCM), Redwood City, Calif. Experts say the recent merger between Phone.com and Software.com Inc.(stock: SWCM), Santa Barbara, Calif., will result in a challenge for DoCoMo's iMode.
Bryan Prohm, senior analyst of wireless terminals and distribution-North and Latin America at Gartner Group, Stamford, Conn., said NTT (stock: NTT) wants to export iMode technology into new markets -- even those where consumers have yet to express much interest for wireless data services. "The larger picture is that DoCoMo intends on becoming a global operator with advancement in Latin America, Europe and now Asia," he said.
If wireless Internet is successful, he said, the logical partners for DoCoMo would be companies like AT&T Corp. (stock: T), New York; SBC Communications Inc. (stock: SBC) San Antonio; or Sprint Corp. (stock:FON), Kansas City, Mo., as well as overseas telecom giants such as Spain's Telefonica SA (stock: TEF). But if WAP fails to gain the interest of consumers, Prohm said, then DoCoMo has to look at some other form of wireless Internet protocol to explore. Prohm said that WAP is somewhat proprietary, but proprietary or not, the consumers show of interest would determine its popularity.
"The current format of WAP technology needs to evolve," he said. "It hasn't reached a point where it is flexible enough and able to accomplish what operators want." VoiceStream Wireless Corp. (stock: VSTR), Bellevue, Wash., is logically an ideal partner for DoCoMo, because it has yet to move into the WAP arena, said Adam S. Zawel, senior wireless analyst at the Yankee Group, Boston. There is a positive a negative side to iMode's nature because it is not entirely open. That limits the drive the developers can make for this technology, he said.
"But as shown in Japan, the critical massive user market is large enough to support it," Zawel said. Whether it takes off in the United States is yet to be determined, but DoCoMo has proven it has the necessary ingredients to make wireless Internet successful, added Zawel. Unquestionably, it would take time for DoCoMo recreate the environment in the United States that it has in Japan for iMode. So, at this point, Zawel sees a race between I-Mode and WAP.
WAP is not advanced enough to compete with iMode because it is a harder language and can access fewer websites, said analyst Toal Hart, wireless services at the Gartner Group. However, WAP is good for accessing corporate information and converting it to the wireless Web, he said. "iMode is more advanced than taking things off the Web," he said. "WAP is good for business applications." |
