[3G]
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[I-Mode] [WAP]
[Wireless and packet switching]
I-Mode Enabling
Technology: The Video Chip
 The I-Mode Page
Who needs a
video phone?
3rd-Generation
Cell Phones Tested
NTT's original
press release
NTT's November
14, 2001 Press release
My concerns about
3G and 4G
I-Mode is an information and entertainment service enabled
by DoCoMo's wireless technology, administration, and marketing.
The 'I' stands for information, not the internet. That information
or content comes from independently developed sites approved
and monitored by DoCoMo. I-Mode exists as a premium or add on
service to a customer's regular cellular bill. I-mode's expensive
mobiles are a phone and data terminal in one. Voice traffic gets
handled by DoCoMo's conventional cellular radio channels, while
a packet switched network overlaid on that system handles the
data work. Over 25 million Japanese have signed up for i-Mode,
one fifth the population.
As I said, the I-mode network delivers information from sites
approved by NTT DoCoMo. Some say it is more like a corporate
intranet run by DoCoMo, rather than the web, although you can,
in theory, connect to any web site. To work fully, a site needs
to be written in a stripped down HTML code required by the I-Mode
terminals. So large companies like Disney have an I-mode compatible
site; a normal web site won't display or operate properly on
an I-mode phone. I think this HTML 'lite' approach gives it an
advantage over the off-beat WML or wireless markup language WAP
uses. Site development is quick and easy compared to making WAP
sites. Yes, i-mode is slow at 9600 bps but unlike WAP, I-mode
is packet switched (internal
link) and awaits only higher wireless data rates to deliver
more advanced, multi-media content.
In the September 2001, Wired
(external link), Frank Rose wrote a great column on i-Mode
entitled "Rocket Monster." He explained how the service
works. Corporate site developers create free or subscription
content for DoCoMo's i-Mode network. There are currently 47,000+
sites. Subscribers check weather, sports, horoscopes, play games,
and so on. Customers pay for each packet transmitted, so even
free site usage means income for DoCoMo. About one fourth cent
for each packet.
To make sure that traffic continues DoCoMo oversees all i-mode
sites to guarantee a uniform look and feel, and to guard against
customer disappointment. These sites get policed more than an
AOL chat room. Got a subscription site? DoCoMo does not allow
any subscriptions over 300 yen a month, roughly $2.50 American.
They don't want high prices to keep people from signing up for
those sites. DoCoMo handles a site's billing, charging a nine
percent fee. DoCoMo also promotes and advertises for the network.
The key is traffic, selling packets, keeping people on-line.
Japanese cellular bills now average $80 a month.
So what do we have? i-Mode really isn't technology by itself,
it is wireless infrastructure but it is management and marketing
as well; it is an expertly thought out business plan for the
Japanese. Will i-Mode make it in America? That's hard to say
because we don't know what it will look like, how it will be
offered, or what will be charged for it. AT&T Wireless has
the rights to deploy this service in America, in whatever form
it takes. AOL is also involved. But since neither company knows
how to charge cheaply for any service I think i-Mode may be doomed
from the beginning.
If these companies can hold prices down then it will be interesting
to see whether Americans accept a finite number of sites and
services. They have before, of course, when years ago AOL and
Compu$erve and Plodigy were not connected to the internet, making
them their own electronic islands. People back then enjoyed each
of those service providers. I think, though, that Americans always
want more and anything less than the full internet, especially
at the prices that will certainly be charged for i-Mode, will
not make many people happy. I think the more likely possibility
is that AOL will use i-Mode as a basis for a wireless AOL. That
might make sense.
Screen display
Who needs
a video phone?
No sooner did I question the merits
of a wireless video phone (internal link) than NTT announced
1200 of the devices would be released for
a public trial (internal link). Similar to that pictured
below, the units will allow people to see each others faces'
on the phone screens. I can't imagine data rates faster than
64Kbps, and, along with delays because of network congestion,
a jittery, Max Headroom effect should be the best you can hope
for. I'm still wondering about the appeal and whether the quality
will be good enough to please people. It may be that people will
enjoy the wireless video phone for the same reason people put
up with early telephones, that is, because it is a miracle that
they work at all.
An August 15, 2001 report on the high speed rollout was discouraging,
with many problems inhibiting use:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nb20010817a1.htm
(external link)
- Some new news on FOMA:
- http://bizns.nikkeibp.co.jp/cgi-bin/asia/show/nsh_contents.pl?NSH_BNO=%31%38%35%38%32&NSH_
- KKEY=%46%4f%4d%41&NSH_CHTML=%6e%73%68%5f%63%6f%6e
- %74%65%6e%74%73%2e%68%74%6d%6c
Perhaps due to these problems and high cost of service Asia
Business Tech reported on October 15, 2001 that only 5,700 people
signed up for the new high speed access scheme after the first
three days. This rate that should have been muc higher after
so many months of marketing effort. Of those people "2,300
users chose the 'P2101V,' a highly efficient type that enables
use of TV telephones."
The I-Mode video handsets use Toshiba's new "video chip"
, permitting 15 frames per second. That's compared to typical
video which operates at 25 fps. You can read
about it in Toshiba's detailed press release archived here. (internal
link) Or check out what Samsung
is doing as a competitor (internal link).
The photo on the above
left is probably a Sanyo
SCP 5000 (external link), an IS-95 (CDMA) phone, capable
of downloading still pictures but possessing no built in camera.
In other words, not a true video phone. But you get the idea
. . .
^^top of page^^
3rd-Generation
Cell Phones Tested -- Original Press release
May 31, 2001
by YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer (Copyright 2001 the Associated
Press)
TOKYO (AP) -- The world's first third-generation wireless
phone service began in Japan on Wednesday, but only as a limited
rollout of 3,300 handsets in the Tokyo area.
Eager Japanese gadget fans -- chosen from 147,000 applicants
-- lined up for models at an office of the nation's top mobile
carrier, NTT DoCoMo. It didn't seem to matter that the most glamorous
of the new phones, the video-phone, had been delayed for up to
a month for software glitches.
The only models available were an upgraded, speedier version
of NTT DoCoMo's current Net-linking i-mode phones and a computer-card
model for data transmission.
''My first impression is it's great,'' said Shintaro Yanagisawa,
24, a marketing company employee, who got an i-mode upgrade.
''It's so fast.''
The third-generation cell phones -- which promise to relay
video and eventually allow music downloads -- zip data up to
40 times faster than current mobile phones.
NTT DoCoMo is hoping 3G phones will become the portable wireless
computers of the future for cybersurfing, corporate data transmission
and electronic commerce.
The company had initially promised full commercial 3G service
for the Tokyo area for late May but delayed that to October because
of software bugs.
NTT DoCoMo already received government approval for the 3G
phones' voice capabilities, but the company needs to submit more
test results to show data and video transmission also works properly
before Oct. 1, said Mitsuhiro Shiozaki, a government official
overseeing telecommunications.
''It's clear NTT DoCoMo is falling behind schedule. I don't
know whether they can have everything ready before Oct. 1,''
he said.
What began Wednesday is a test-run to collect feedback on
how the phones work, which will allow the company to sift out
the problems.
The handsets are free. Users pay transmission fees of between
100 yen (80 cents) and 150 yen ($1.25) for three minutes -- nearly
double the charge for i-mode phones.
Yanagisawa and others were amply warned about possible glitches.
When the cell phone screen freezes, NTT DoCoMo officials said,
turn off the phone and start again.
NTT DoCoMo plans to expand 3G to the rest of Japan by 2002
and is promising to offer 3G in Europe and the United States
as well.
Twelve hundred video-phones -- which allow callers to see
each other's faces on the phone screens -- will be gradually
handed out over the next month, NTT DoCoMo said.
NTT DoCoMo officials have acknowledged they don't expect 3G
to take off for another couple of years, forecasting just 150,000
people will sign on to the service in the first year.
Revenue from i-mode is still NTT DoCoMo's money maker. For
the fiscal year ending in March, NTT DoCoMo earned 365 billion
yen ($3 billion), up 45 percent from a year ago on sales surging
26 percent at 4.7 trillion yen ($39 billion), largely on the
success of i-mode.
I-mode has attracted 23 million Japanese, who use their cell
phones to exchange e-mail, read news or restaurant guides and
play electronic games.
AP-NY-05-30-01 1049EDT<
05/30/2001
^^top of page^^
NTT's Press
release
TOKYO, JAPAN, May 25, 2001 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced
today that from May 30, 2001 the company will begin distributing
4,500 mobile phones equipped for third-generation (3G) services
to monitors participating in the introductory phase of the company's
"FOMA" 3G service rollout. Applicants selected to serve
as monitors will be notified by May 29, 2001.
NTT DoCoMo had initially planned to distribute 4,000 mobile
phones, but later decided to raise the number to 4,500 after
it received 147,000 applications. The 4,500 total includes 2,000
mobile phones for individual monitors and 2,500 mobile phones
for about 700 corporate monitors (companies).
The breakdown includes 1,400 standard phones, an upgraded
version of the current i-mode cellular phone featuring sound
quality similar to that of a fixed-line phone, 1,200 "visual"
phones equipped with a video screen, and 1,900 "data-card"
phones for dedicated mobile high-speed data transmission.
Individual monitors will be provided with 600 standard phones,
700 "visual" phones and 700 "data-card" phones.
Corporate monitors will use a total of 800 standard phones, 500
"visual" phones and 1,200 "data-card" phones.
Although distribution of the mobile phones will begin from
May 30, 2001, the "visual" model will be delivered
no later than the end of June 2001. The model required a debugging
of its embedded software (completed) and is now undergoing final
re-testing.
^^top of page^^
NTT's November
14, 2001 Press Release
NTT DoCoMo to Launch Video Clip Service over "FOMA"
3G Network - Compatible Handsets to Be Marketed Simultaneously
-
TOKYO, JAPAN, November 14, 2001 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced
today that it will launch a video-clip distribution service over
its FOMA* third-generation (3G) mobile network on November 19,
2001.
The service, dubbed "i-motion" will enable users
to obtain video content at speeds of up to 384 kbps (64 kbps
uplinks) from sites accessed via DoCoMo's official i-mode portal
with i-motion-compatible FOMA handsets.
The service fee is included in the 100-yen basic monthly fee
that FOMA subscribers pay to use i-mode. (Some i-motion sites
charge an "i-motion information charge" for access.)
On the same day, DoCoMo will also start selling the FOMA N2002
handset, which is compatible with i-motion.
Initially, 28 content providers will offer 37 different i-motion
sites. Movie trailers, news highlights and music files will be
among the many types of increasingly rich content to be offered.
Data will be offered in three formats: video with sound for promotional
videos, news, etc. still frames with sound for famous movie scenes
etc., and sound-only music files.
The i-motion service area will be the same as the FOMA service
area, which is currently defined as the area falling inside Route
16, the national highway encircling central Tokyo. Service will
expand into the southern part of the Kanto region beginning December
1, 2001.
NTT DoCoMo regional companies DoCoMo Tokai and DoCoMo Kansai
will also offer i-motion when they launch the FOMA service in
their respective areas on December 1, 2001.
Please refer to the attachment for more information about
the FOMA 2002 handset.
*FOMA (Freedom Of Mobile multimedia Access) is the brand name
used in Japan for NTT DoCoMo's 3G service.
^^top of page^^
The I-Mode video handsets will use Toshiba's new "video
chip" , permitting 15 frames per second.You can read
about it in Toshiba's detailed press release archived here.
My concerns
about 3G and 4G
Although I'm normally a big proponent of future technology,
I am worried that 3G and 4G will provide us with expensive, balky
services we may not want. Are we working on a wireless version
of the video telephone? That landline telephone project, the
most spectacular failure of the Bell System, cost them and their
rate payers hundreds of millions of dollars over three decades.
It produced a technology available only in a few cities, appealed
to just a few people, and could be afforded by fewer still. A wireless video phone is the
logical counterpart to the original video phone and is what 3G
and 4G will enable. But will it work? For whom? At what cost?
We're still having problems keeping wireless calls connected
and that will remain a problem with future services. Data intensive
technology like video will only increase the difficulty. People
rarely wanted to see each other face to face while communicating
with the video phone and we must assume that preference will
remain the same today. The business video conferencing market
might want it, as well as parents keeping track of their kids,
or emergency services monitoring those it must rescue, aid, or
kill. It will be expensive. I'm not sure how this will work out.
Whatever happens, we will stumble and fumble our way to the future,
one tenuous wireless link at a time. Hmm.
Mark van der Hoek
offers these opinions:
"In general, overlay is slapping another network on top
of your existing system. We did this with CDMA in 800 MHz. We
cleared some of the analog spectrum, and used it for CDMA. That's
almost certainly what AT&T will do. Since the channel bandwidths
are incompatible, they'll clear out some TDMA channels and use
that spectrum for GSM. They'll offer the new services on those
channels, but customers will need to buy a new phone to make
use of them. As they shift enough customers to the new service,
they'll clear another band of TDMA and install another GSM channel(s).
It's not fun, because you have to clear the spectrum (crowding
your existing customers into what's left) before you can offer
the new services."
"My view is the the "demand" for 3G services,
especially data, is largely in the minds of the industry - the
analysts and marketing boobs - rather than in the minds of the
customers. Yes, there is some market for it now, and that will
grow, but most of it is hype right now. Witness Metricom's fiasco.
How is it a mobile data technology with no handoff?"
"I think something similar is going on with mobile data.
Because the Internet is The Big Thing, people are simply assuming
that it will translate to mobile. That's not necessarily true.
How many ordinary people really want to run around with a laptop?
"Oh, but you won't need a laptop! You'll surf the 'Net with
your phone!" Bull. Even if you can get the needed bandwidth,
even if you can get the needed processing power, you still have
that tiny screen. Until there are some major breakthroughs in
that area, mobile Internet is going to be a niche."
"And, it is a fundamental change in the way people use
phones. Phones are for talking to other people. That's the mindset.
It can change, but not overnight. And talking can be done while
walking the mall or driving the freeway. (NY notwithstanding.)
Talking can go with the flow of what you are already doing -
that's why cellular took off. But surfing the net requires almost
exclusive attention - it does not lend itself to multitasking
very well. Surfing requires you to Stop What You Are Doing And
Do Something Else. Analysts are not recognizing that. It's not
just another use of the phone. It's a fundamentally different
thing. In terms of mindset, it's not a phone at all."
"Will it come? Probably. There IS a market for more than
5 computers on the face of the earth. ;-) But there's not a market
for 10 billion right now, and there's not a big market for mobile
data. Japanese techies who buy every gadget that comes along
may be the future of the western world, but it's not the present.
. ."
^^top of page^^
I-Mode Enabling
Technology: The Video Chip
[3G] [4G] [Bluetooth]
[I-Mode] [WAP]
[Wireless and packet switching]
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