Contribution:
Jump-started Japan on the mobile Internet by developing
i-mode, the world's most successful wireless Net access service for cell
phones.
Challenge:
To establish i-mode as the leading portal and hub for
wireless e-commerce in Asia.
Keiichi Enoki,
DoCoMo's Internet boss, is a nonconformist in paint-by-numbers corporate Japan.
Prime example: While the bigwigs at Japan's leading mobile-phone company tout
video cell phones, the 51-year-old Enoki is quick to say many people won't want
to be seen by those they're talking to.
It's a good thing Enoki's bosses don't hold that against him. Three years ago,
they asked him to create a new business. His response: i-mode, the world's
first mobile Net access service, introduced in February, 1999, which offers a
connection to the Web without the hassle of needing to be connected to a
computer and phone line. ''I believed consumers would go for a service that
offers convenience 24 hours a day,'' he says. Today, more than 6 million people
use i-mode to check e-mail and conduct e-commerce, making DoCoMo the largest
Internet service provider in Japan. What's more, DoCoMo is regarded as a mobile
Net pioneer, offering a model for other carriers to copy.
Now, Enoki sees i-mode morphing into a full-fledged Web gateway. Netizens with
cell phones will be able to make quick purchases and download movies for
viewing later on a large display. If he's right, i-mode could become the
America Online of the mobile Net.
Copyright 2005, Bloomberg L.P.
