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Taiwan gets taste of i-Mode

Tim Culpan

Taiwan's KG Telecom (KGT) on Thursday launched the region's first non-Japanese version of the popular i-Mode service, while rival Taiwan Cellular Corp (TCC) attempted to trump it with the launch of its multimedia messaging service (MMS).

The service uses KGT's existing general packet radio services (GPRS) over the global system for mobile (GSM) network. The system has been bundled with NEC's N530i colour handset. A Toshiba handset is expected to hit the market by the end of the year.

More than 80 content partners have already signed up for inclusion on the first-tier i-Mode menu, with about 9 per cent of a content-provider's revenue going to the operator.

First-tier partners charge for access and download of specific content items. For example, record label EMI Taiwan has hooked up with i-Mode on a service called i-stars, charging NT$50 (about HK$11.43) for eight photographs, an autograph and biographical details of its singers. The company also provides ring tones and e-cards.

According to KGT director of product innovation Roger Chen, content partners are put through a rigorous program to ensure their content is up to scratch.

'Mobile users aren't going to accept any news which is out of date. They want to see updates at least 10 times a day, instead of once a day,' Mr Chen said.

Users can also access non-menu sites by keying in a URL directly, with content providers needing to code their sites in compact-HTML (CHTML).

Across town, Taiwan's No 1 mobile operator TCC launched the island's first MMS service yesterday, bundling it with Ericsson's T68 colour handset.

To encourage users to take up the service, each MMS message will be charged NT$1, compared to NT$3 for short messaging services (SMS).

The launch of MMS also acts as a soft launch for TCC's GPRS service. The company has been rolling out its GPRS technology for many months, but has held off on launching it to subscribers pending an increase in the system's speed and the availability of a service to put on the platform.

Despite claiming that the timing of its MMS launch on the same day as i-Mode was coincidental, TCC officials spent much of the time playing up the advantages of MMS over i-Mode. Apart from cost, the company is pushing MMS as a more personable medium, with content coming from users rather than downloaded from servers.

'Do they want it for talking to their friends or do they want it for talking to a [personal computer]?' TCC vice-president of sales and marketing Rachal Tan said.

But the battle to overshadow i-Mode appears unwarranted, given that KGT expects to have MMS-enabled i-Mode handsets on the market in the future. KGT's Mr Chen said it had already learnt from i-Mode launches in Europe. 'I-Mode is something you have to experience, it's hard to explain from advertising,' he said.

At the launch yesterday, dozens of KGT staff demonstrated fully functional handsets with i-Mode services. By contrast, TCC's launch of MMS relied on filmed demos by actors.

KGT's i-Mode launch has been 18 months in the making. Japan's NTT DoCoMo took a 20 per cent stake in the Taiwan operator in November 2000 and launched i-Mode in February 1999. Last year, it acquired a 25 per cent stake in Hong Kong's Hutchison Telecom in preparation for launch in the SAR this year.

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