i-mode

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The logo is a stylized small i in yellow

i-mode is a portal service for mobile phones . There are WWW shown -like sides - but adapted to the capabilities of the mobile phone displays. i-mode pages are written in CHTML . i-mode (discontinued in Germany in 2008) is in direct competition with WAP .

i-mode offers colored texts, graphics, videos and sounds. To use the full range of functions and all display options, special i-mode-capable mobile phones are required. i-mode was developed by NTT DoCoMo under the leadership of Keiichi Enoki in Japan, started on February 22, 1999 and has over 52 million users there (as of July 2007) who can access more than 92,000 i-mode websites. On November 10, 2005, i-mode passed the 50 million user mark worldwide. This makes i-mode the most successful mobile data service in the world. Mari Matsunaga is known as the "mother of i-mode".

The success of i-mode in Japan has two main reasons:

While the business models in Europe that used WAP were mainly concerned with placing their own portals in the foreground, in Japan i-mode tried from the beginning to create a division of income with the content providers. So even small providers could provide i-mode pages profitably.

The second reason is that in Japan there are far fewer people using computers at home and there are far more and longer journeys on public transport. This makes the mobile Internet one of the main sources of information.

In addition to Japan, the i-mode service is currently also available in Singapore ( StarHUB ) and Taiwan ( Far EasTone ) as well as in the following European markets:

I-mode was discontinued in the following markets:

In Germany, i-mode was introduced by E-Plus at CeBIT 2002 and discontinued in 2008. O 2 did not pursue the original plan to start i-mode in 2006.

i-mode milestones and development of registered i-mode users in Japan

i-mode milestones Registered i-mode users in Japan
February 1999 Start i-mode August 1999 1 million
December 1999 Start color LCD handsets and download ringtone March 2000 5 million
June 2000 Integration of English menu (i-menu) August 2000 10 million
November 2000 Development of W-CDMA technology for 3G network November 2000 15 million
January 2001 Start Java for i-mode ( DoJa ) March 2001 20 million
July 2001 Start Location Based Services (i-area) July 2001 25 million
October 2001 Start of 3G service in Japan ( FOMA ) December 2001 30 million
June 2002 Start image transfer service (i-shot) October 2002 35 million
May 2003 Start Macromedia Flash Handset October 2003 40 million
August 2005 Start push service for information content (i-channel) August 2005 45 million
May 2006 Start of credit card service for mobile payments (DCMX)
August 2006 Start of HSDPA network with up to 3.6mbps August 2006 47 million

Current developments

2005

This means that i-mode is available in 13 countries: Japan , Taiwan , Singapore , Israel , Russia , Australia , Germany , the Netherlands , Belgium , France , Spain , Italy and Greece .

2006

  • June 7, 2006: E-Plus announces that it will discontinue the i-mode service in Germany, which happened in December 2007. It can only be used by existing customers.

2007

2008

  • March 19, 2008: E-Plus announces that it will also discontinue the i-mode service on April 1, 2008 for existing customers.

iHTML & DoYes

Development of mobile web standards

For displaying websites on i-mode mobile phones iHTML is used, one of CHTML (C for "compact") derived markup language (English. Markup language ). iHTML was developed by NTT DoCoMo and is a proprietary standard . iHTML uses a subset of HTML - tags , supplemented by some additional elements such representation symbols , keyboard control commands and mobile-specific features such. B. Links to cell phone numbers.

DoJa (for "DoCoMo's Java") was developed for the development of Java applications on i-mode mobile phones .

i-mode cell phones

The names of the i-mode mobile phones are made up of the manufacturer's abbreviation, generation / range of functions number and the final “i”.

Devices in Japan:

  • The 900 series offers 3G (FOMA), character-based video telephony , barcode readers, megapixel cameras and QVGA displays and much more.
  • The 700 series offers 3G (FOMA), character-based video telephony, barcode readers, megapixel cameras and QVGA displays without any additional functions.
  • The iC ending indicates that this device is equipped with a contactless " FeliCa " IC chip, which can be used by the owner e.g. B. allows paying by mobile phone. Starting with the 902 series, all cell phones have a contactless FeliCa chip.

Devices outside of Japan:

  • The 2 series starting with 2 has a color display and offers e.g. B. polyphonic ringtones and i-mail.
  • The 3 series starting with 3 has an integrated camera in addition to the above features.
    • Devices of the 34 series are also Java-enabled.
  • The 4 series allows videos to be recorded and sent or received.
    • 41x devices also have a megapixel camera.
    • 42x devices also allow new Java games ( DoJa 2.5).
    • 43x devices also have a memory that can be expanded using memory cards.
  • The 5 series offers fast i-mode access via EDGE.
  • The 6 series offers fast i-mode access via UMTS and all functions of the 4 series.

literature

  • i-mode personally . ISBN 3-8311-3919-9 - German-language book on i-mode at e-plus, with a comparison of Japanese and international emojis and representable character codes
  • I-Mode Crash Course . ISBN 0-07-138187-2 - English-language book on i-mode in general
  • I-Mode Developer's Guide . ISBN 0-672-32188-2 - English language book for developers
  • iMode . ISBN 0-471-48638-8 - English language information on creating iMode graphical web servers and services
  • Mobile Data Services in Japan - An Analysis of i-mode's Success . ISBN 978-3-8324-7416-4
  • Mari Matsunaga: i-mode, The Birth of i-mode, An Analogue Account of the Mobile Internet . Chaung Yi Publishing, 2001, ISBN 981-239-473-7

Web links

i-mode links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ i-mode is at the end , Heise-Newsticker from March 20, 2008, accessed on May 2, 2015
  2. ↑ archive.japantoday.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / archive.japantoday.com  
  3. ↑ golem.de