BW Online | July 2, 2001 | Takeshi Natsuno

U.S. EDITION
Full Table of Contents
Cover Story
Up Front
Readers Report
Corrections & Clarifications
Books
Technology & You
Economic Viewpoint
Economic Trends
Business Outlook
News: Analysis & Commentary

In Business This Week
Washington Outlook
International Business
International Outlook
Information Technology
Legal Affairs
People
The Corporation
Government
Environment

The Barker Portfolio
Inside Wall Street
Figures of the Week
Editorials

INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS
International -- Asian Cover Story
International -- European Cover Story
International -- Spotlight on Poland
International -- Readers Report
International -- Asian Business
International -- European Business
International -- Latin America
International -- Int'l Figures of the Week

PREMIUM CONTENT MBA Insider

BW MAGAZINE Get Four Free Issues Register Subscribe Customer Service

ONLINE FEATURES Book Reviews BW Video Columnists Interactive Gallery Newsletters Past Covers Philanthropy Podcasts Special Reports BLOGS Auto Beat Bangalore Tigers Blogspotting Brand New Day Byte of the Apple Economics Unbound Eye on Asia Fine On Media Green Biz Hot Property Investing Insights Management IQ NEXT: Innovation NussbaumOnDesign Tech Beat Working Parents TECHNOLOGY J.D. Power Ratings Product Reviews Tech Stats Wildstrom: Tech Maven AUTOS Home Page Auto Reviews Classic Cars Car Care & Safety Hybrids INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads

BW EXTRAS BW Digital BW Mobile BW Online Alerts Dashboard Widgets Podcasts RSS

RSS Feeds

Reprints/ Permissions Conferences Research Services

JULY 2, 2001

THE STARS OF ASIA -- INNOVATORS

Takeshi Natsuno

Executive Director, NTT DoCoMo Inc.

STORY TOOLS

Printer-Friendly Version

E-Mail This Story

THE STARS OF ASIA -- INNOVATORS

Yue Yun Fai

Oradee Sahavacharin

Atsuo Takanishi

Shang-Yi Chiang

Goh Kun

Takeshi Natsuno

Plenty of people at NTT DoCoMo Inc. (NTDMY ), Japan's dominant wireless carrier, helped make a success of i-mode, the two-year-old mobile Internet access service that today boasts some 25 million subscribers. But there's one individual who stands out as a linchpin in this story--Takeshi Natsuno, the guru of i-mode content.

A graduate of Wharton Business School, Natsuno gets the credit for designing a profitable, info-entertainment wireless platform that has morphed into Japan's biggest market success in years. He lured high-quality content providers with a micropayments scheme that enables providers to charge fees for their services--ranging from horoscopes to stock quotes. While PC-based sites are scrambling for a source of revenue, DoCoMo's content partners each charge up to $3 per user in monthly fees, which DoCoMo collects for them. "To become profitable ourselves, we have to motivate and enrich the content providers," says Natsuno.

His ideas are paying off. DoCoMo takes 9% in royalties from content providers, plus $3 per month for each i-mode subscription. But the biggest money generators are the charges for data sent and received by users. Revenues from data services soared 840%, to $2.8 billion, in the business year ended Mar. 31.

The 36-year-old Natsuno doesn't want to stop there. He's dreaming up a new generation of wireless applications to take advantage of higher transmission speeds. Natsuno is also out to prove that i-mode, or parts of it, can translate overseas. If these ventures succeed, many people will claim credit. But Natsuno should be remembered as the one who lit the fire.

Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds. XML

Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed.

Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video.

To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here.

Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page