In short, a new word will enter the vocabulary of Spanish telecommunications, is the i-mode. In a turbulent time for European and world markets in general and for telecommunications in particular, dominated by the continued delay of the next generation of GSM (better known as UMTS) and instability seems to threaten to become chronic.
Telefonica announced some months ago its intention to offer a new service that would revolutionize the concept of mobile Internet. The subsequent failure of the WAP protocol, the first attempt at commercial exploitation of wireless net, it has not frightened the Spanish telecommunications giant when it comes to launch the new service developed by another telecommunications giant, this time in Japan, NTT DoCoMo .
Specifically, this technology was introduced in Japan market in February 1999 and are currently subscribed to this service 35 million users in that country.
The main appeal of the new bet made in our country is obviously the new universe of possibilities of access to information through our mobile phone open to us, before the advent of 3rd Generation network.
A new platform for mobile information access
With i-mode mobile phones can display up to 60,000 Web pages, with about 30,000 suppliers have adapted their content to i-mode, yes, still in Japanese. At present there are few sites that have content in western languages, due to the newness of the technology, but among those already operating are English, German, French and Holland's most common languages. With the start service in Spain, will be the next language of Cervantes' to join this club. "
Among the most useful content of the service users currently enjoy access to include special services such as e-mail, online shopping and banking, ticket reservations or advice on restaurants. The prices charged depend on the amount of data transmitted, not while the user remains in session. At this point is equal to UMTS, pricing will also rely on the volume of information downloaded rather than connection time.
The i-mode service in Japan, uses packet switching to move data from your network W-CDMA (Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access) users, a download speed of 9.6 kbit per second, similar to the data circulating in the GSM system. With GPRS and Europe has reached speeds of data transmission up to 40 kbit / s. FOMA 3G service from NTT DoCoMo is currently offering in Japan a download speed of 384 kilobit per second. The European 3G, however, is expected to enable the downloading of information per second 3Megabit.
The language he uses i-mode is a simplified version of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), namely, Compact HTML (cHTML), compared with WML (Wireless Markup Language) WAP protocol, so it is relatively easier to use for content developers who already have websites on the Internet.
In Spain, Telefonica Movistar offer service will be conducted through its network GPRS (Global Packet Radio Service). The agreement between NTT DoCoMo and the Spanish giant planned to hold this service for a duration of five years. Spain Telefonica Moviles plans to introduce i-mode service in the first half of 2003 integrated e-motion, the menu of Internet access to content Spanish mobile operator.
Where is this service available?
Apart from Japan, this technology is being exploited commercially in some countries both in Asia and Europe. In particular, the presence of i-mode extends in Asia only by Taiwan, developed by KG Telecom of Taiwan since June 2002.
In Europe, NTT DoCoMo has licensed i-mode technology to KPN Mobile in the Netherlands, E-Plus in Belgium Mobilfunk in Germany and Bouygues Telecom in France.
The Japanese operator plans next move by taking the leap to the Americas, so it may soon hear talk of the beginning of i-mode service in the United States.
What terminals are available for the service?
Much of the success of this success of this service in Japan is due to the terminal, made specifically for NTT DoCoMo. Armed with large screens up to 120x130 pixels, which allow 5 to 10 lines of text, since it had launched the service displays that allowed up to 256 colors.
The new Japanese technology allows navigation and iHTML page display, and as stated above, the sending of new multimedia messages and downloading Java applications, so it will need a terminal capable of it. It must also consider that i-mode handsets are designed to facilitate service usage through special menus.
These terminals will, among its features, with the ability to visualize both iHTML content as WML content. In this way, will be accessible also all existing content sites in WAP.
Some of the terminal equip and European users of i-mode are the N22i NEC, and Toshiba TS21i.
The NEC N22i, comes equipped with dual screens, the largest of which has the capacity to resolve 4096 colors, 12 colors of backlighting to customize the memory 500 contacts also with light, interchangeable covers, 40 polyphonic ringtones and an autonomy that varies among the 200 hours of stand-by at 3 hours in communication.
With a screen of 7 lines of text in 256 colors, the Toshiba TS21i also comes equipped with polyphonic ringtones, 16 in particular, memory for 200 contacts, 30 melodies and 15 images, and a range of 130 hours of stand-by and 3 hours in communication.
