i-mode

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i-mode is the full-color, always-on, and packet-switched Internet service for cellular phones offered by NTT DoCoMo.

• Introduced in February 1999, it has attracted over 89 million subscribers in Japan by October, 2005.


• With i-mode, cellular phone users can easily access more than 94,000 Internet sites, as well as specialized services such as e-mail, on-line shopping and banking, and ticket reservations.


• The i-mode network structure not only provides access to i-mode and i-mode-compatible contents through the Internet, but also provides access through a dedicated leased-line circuit for added security.


• It allows subscribers continuous access to the Internet without interruption via cellular phones because it applies packet-switched technology. Users are charged based on the volume of data transmitted, rather than the amount of time spent connected.

Content providers create Web sites for i-mode by using iHTML, a subset of HTML.

i-mode uses two ways to achieve compatibility: i) manual editing as above, and ii) introduction of conversion software as left.