Stuart Corner
Friday, 25 January 2008 09:15
IT Industry -
Strategy
Page 1 of 3
Google and Japan's largest cellular network operator, NTT DoCoMo, have announced a wide-ranging partnership that includes "studying the possibility of bringing Android handsets to Japan," but the deal comes only weeks after DoCoMo announced that it would back Linux-based software as an open platform for handset manufacturers.
The initial focus of the Google NTT DoCoMo tie-up is to enhance NTT DoCoMo's i-mode cellphone content service with Google's search and information offerings. i-mode boasts 48 million users in Japan, but NTT DoCoMo's attempts to export it to other markets, including Australia, have met with very limited success.
DoCoMo and Google say that, by connecting i-mode with various services provided by Google, they intend to "increase accessibility, user-friendliness and further develop the usefulness of mobile Internet services in the Japanese market." The default pre-loading of Google Maps onto upcoming DoCoMo i-mode handsets is one of the initial initiatives being discussed.
The user menu on i-mode phones already has a search option but through the partnership users will also be served Google search results for mobile and PC web sites via the i-mode portal search-box. Launch of the expanded search services is scheduled for the end of Q1 or early Q2 2008. The new search-box will be placed on the top-page of the i-mode portal. At the same time, key-word based advertisements using Google's ad platform, AdWords, will be provided on the search-result pages in conjunction with the search results.
The two also intend to make it easier for i-mode users to use Google services such as Gmail, YouTube and Picasa by giving them more seamless and immediate access from their mobile phones. And Google will be set to appear as the default start-page on the full-browser in all upcoming DoCoMo full-browser capable handsets.
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