March 19, 2003
Vodafone Live! overtakes Europe i-mode
In an interesting article by Niall McKay, "Is Content is Really King?", published in the excellent TheFeature.com, March 18, we learn how Vodafone Live!, providing users with picture messages, games, ring tones, animations, and other content services, has nearly overtaken the European version of i-mode in just three months, with over 380,000 subscribers across Europe.
Amongst their services, of note, "Entertainment News", which sends out text alerts of showbiz updates and gossip with pictures. And "News & Charts" which allows users to match a face to a tune, by delivering pictures of the hottest pop stars by MMS.
While i-mode in Japan has over 30 million subscribers, in Europe it has just 236,000. According to Niall McKay, "there are all sorts of reasons for this, not least among them is content, infrastructure and the lack of cool handsets. In fact, in Japan, handsets are not really an issue, as most look pretty much the same. Unlike Europe, where hipsters like to be seen with the latest, smallest and coolest handset, Japanese consumers are much more concentrated on functionality rather than design".
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2003/03/000102.htm
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