The launch of NTT DoCoMo's "i-mode" phones in February 1999 has spurred the biggest consumer craze in Japan since Sony unveiled its Walkman.

In just over one year, the company has managed to attract 12 million subscribers who log onto the Internet via its i-mode service, which allows users to browse Web sites on business-card-sized screens, as well as send and receive email.

NTT DoCoMo's Chairman Kouji Ohboshi, speaking at the Chamber's Oct. 10 roundtable luncheon, said one of the key factors in its success has been the use of a language compliant with the Internet world.

He also attributes the success of i-mode to the company opening its network to outside companies, which resulted in the 1,000 or so official i-mode sites ballooning to over 20,000. This gives subscribers far more choice and also raises the value of NTT DoCoMo's network, he said.

Though fundamentally a consumer service, Mr Ohboshi said he has started exploring the mobile portal business and corporate market to expand revenue streams. The company has also started selling advertising on its network, and plans to take a transaction fee for settlement of goods purchased on its m-commerce services which it plans to launch soon.

In May next year, Mr Ohboshi said NTT DoCoMo plans to launch its 3G wideband service, which will allow data transmission speeds of 386kbps for in-vehicle use, and 2Mbps for static use. This will enable films and multimedia to be transmitted over its network.

To expand globally, NTT DoCoMo is making this technology available in as many companies as possible around the world to help develop a common standard for transmission.

The company is also working to make WAP 2.0 closer to i-mode. The fact that it has managed to earn 12 million users in such a short time is testimony to the advantages of i-mode over language-heavy WAP, Mr Ohboshi said.

This is particularly important because just as HTML has allowed anyone who wishes to contribute content to the Internet to do so, the same holds true for mobile services.

"With i-mode, the network operator is not the only one that creates and controls content. In the market, people create content. So I expect the same thing will happen with 3G services. So the major role of the operator is to offer a network for creative people to maximize its potential," he said.