Why i-mode failed

Australian’s incumbent telecommunications provider Telstra recently announced that they would be ceasing to provide their i-mode service that they launched so expensively only a few years ago. The news is that UK operator O2 has done the same.

The Register has an interesting op-ed by Bill Ray on why the i-mode failed: Culture matters: Why i-mode failed and why the hype about broadcast mobile TV may also be misplaced in the West. The main difference between the two cultures is the lack of TVs and personal computers in bedrooms (often there is just not the space). So the mobile platform is going to much more attractive as it’s your most convenient source of the internet than when you have it pretty much on tap in the privacy of your own room.

O2 and Telstra will be rueing an expensive mistake with i-mode. Half the money spent on a decent WAP billing platform would have given them all the important functionality, but they saw the success of i-mode in Japan and thought customers were buying a technology, when in reality they wanted an experience suited to their culture.