Although it is not a full third-generation service, i-mode already offers some multimedia services and Internet access, which has helped it to gain 30m customers in Japan in three years.
Though e-mail been a success for Japan's NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode service, some observers are skeptical about the breadth of unified messaging's appeal.
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DoCoMo's I-Mode service has twelve million subscribers, compared with AOL's 440, 000 subscribers.
They're also looking over their shoulder at Japan's wildly popular i-mode service, whose 10 million users have access to around 5, 000 gaming and entertainment sites.
But a year ago, his boss launched TraBox, a website aimed at brokering deals between drivers and cargo firms, designed for use on NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service.
Even Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which is launching its successful i-mode service in Europe this month, gave warning on March 15th that it may have to write down the value of some of its overseas investments.
Its own model for DoCoMo's i-mode Internet service looks unlike anything it sells in Europe.
The nearest thing the GSM networks have to i-mode is a service known as Wireless Application Protocol, or WAP, launched at the beginning of this year.
DoCoMo's i-mode mobile internet service has surprised some analysts with the scale of its popularity and encouraged other operators worldwide over the prospects for next-generation mobile telecoms.
Users of the service are expected to be able to listen to songs they have uploaded to the service in a so-called streaming mode but won't be able to download the files themselves.
DoCoMo is expected to offer AOL the technology used in its "i-mode" internet access service, while the DoCoMo service will benefit from the AOL content.
The service, which Apple has been developing for years, has a mode for viewing areas in three-dimensions, along with a local search service and turn-by-turn driving directions for in-car use.
Their preparations started in 1996, when DoCoMo laid the groundwork on i-mode, its spectacularly successful mobile Internet service.
Subscription to DOCOMO's "sp-mode" or "moperaU" connection service is required.
As for the blog de mode, sina.com's Twitter-like service, Ms. Xu isn't interested.
LightSquared is pleased with the Federal Communication Commission's grant of its request to allow its wholesale customers to provide either dual-mode or terrestrial-only devices as part of an integrated satellite-terrestrial broadband service.
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Just in time for the holidays, Wal-Mart has announced its very own video download service, which will kick off in "beta" mode next week with an exclusive Superman Returns bundle.
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