Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnG who wrote (17005)	11/30/2001 8:43:39 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 34857

I'd have launched it in Spain, Portugal and Italy. It's people form those cultures that are going to have a go at it. KPN Mobile -which is going to launch i-mode in Europe are not gpoing to fare to wll too. That's because the countries it is going to launch: the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium are not people who take up new technologies fast enough.

To: JohnG who wrote (17005)	11/30/2001 8:59:14 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 34857

The Euros are in a conundrum: They badly need a credible alternative to kick start 3G. That will drive up the acceptance of the technology and will kick it out. Have i-mode to help them on that and DoCoMo is willing to partner. But there is a problem: The Euro Ego. After many years saying to all the world that they were the champions of wireless, (and boy, thye were good at selling that!) they have now to concede that they don't have a monopoly of all things that goes by the name "wireless". That there's no Scandinavian Midas touch that guarantees success in the wireless world. We have to remind them that most of the success of GSM is not due to those Mediterranean Latins churning across all operators and leaving their unpaid bills behind as they moved on. To counter that, operators launched pre-paid. Pre-paid massified GSM and is the big thing in all countries in the world that are not as honest as the Scandinavians are. Just a disclaimer: Scandinavians are more honest because they life in semi-policial states. Not because they are honest by their own nature. That said: Help is on the way: i-mode is coming to Italy and Spain. Hopefully fast enough to kick this thing on! DoCoMo hopes to bring i-mode to Europe 14:17 Monday 5th November 2001 Rik Turner, Computerwire.com With 3G still to arrive in Europe, Japan's NTT DoCoMo wants to bring its proprietary i-mode service into play NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest cellular operator, is looking for partners in the carrier community in France, Spain and Italy in order to launch its proprietary i-mode service in those countries. Through its 15 percent stake in Dutch GSM operator KPN Mobiel, DoCoMo will soon see the launch of the first European i-mode service by KPN's partly held German subsidiary E-Plus Mobilfunk, which is promising i-mode for January next year. While the Japanese operator has made no formal statement regarding the UK, where it has 20 percent of 3G new entrant Hutchison 3G UK, the presence of NEC as the network infrastructure provider and one of the manufacturers providing handsets suggests that at least some of the experience from i-mode will be used there, as NEC is a close collaborator of DoCoMo for its online service in Japan. Now CEO Keiji Tachikawa has told German business daily Handelsblatt in Hong Kong that his company is also seeking partners in other countries. "We're most interested in the big markets of France, Italy and Spain," he said. He declined to comment, however, on speculation that DoCoMo might be interested in buying Telecom Italia SpA's minority stake in France's number-three GSM operator, Bouygues Telecom, or that it might decide to take part in the auction for that country's third and fourth 3G licences. As for the other two target countries, a possible route into Italy could again be via Hutchison Whampoa, which is already its partner not only in the UK but also in Hong Kong, where the Japanese group holds a minority stake in the HK operator Hutchison Telecom. Hutchison Whampoa is part of a consortium holding a new entrant 3G licence in Italy. Given the common thread of having to attract customers away from their current 2G service providers before the latter roll out their own 3G services, i-mode or something resembling it could again be a useful attraction to whet appetites. Spain has already awarded four 3G licences. The country's three GSM operators, incumbent Telefonica Moviles, Vodafone's Airtel and Amena (in which Telecom Italia SpA is a shareholder) all won licences. The fourth licence went to new entrant Xfera SA, in which Finnish incumbent Sonera and French communications group Vivendi are shareholders. While Xfera would seem the natural candidate for i-mode in Spain, given its new entrant status, Telecom Italia's announced intention of exiting Amena would be another way into that market, with the added advantage that the operator already has a 2G subscriber base.