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The unofficial independent imode FAQ
5. imode for business
5.1 What are the business applications for i-mode?
You can sell content on imode, you can sell services via imode: airlines sell airtickets
via imode, media companies sell cartoon images via imode, securities houses sell shares and
investments via imode, and Japanese government lottery tickets are sold via imode, just to name
a few examples. You can
have a virtual private network on imode and there are many other business
applications for imode. Many companies use i-mode for customer relationship management (CRM).
Since about 1/3 of Japans population uses i-mode practically everyday as part of everyday
life, i-mode allows companies to engage into dialogue or other interactions with a large
part of Japans population. All competing mobile internet services in Japan reach about
70 million people, i.e. a very large fraction of the economically active population.
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5.2 How many users does imode have?
As of Summer 2004, there are about 42 million imode subscribers in Japan and about 4 million users
outside Japan.
At the moment there are about 70 million mobile internet users in Japan.
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5.3 Do I need to know Japanese language to do business with imode in Japan?
5.4 Is there an English language section of the official imode menu?
Yes there is. It was initially prepared for the G8 meeting in Okinawa in Summer 2000, but the
list of content is different and very much much smaller than the Japanese language section.
If you study the English language section of i-mode alone, you cannot reach a good understanding
of i-mode.
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5.5 Are there Virtual Private Networks (VPN) on imode?
Yes, there are. Your company can have a virtual private network (VPN) on imode.
This can also include a privat leased line between your company and the imode
center avoiding the public internet for extra security. Since imode uses
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) security, and handsets have an unique identifier
many security measures can be implemented.
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5.6 What about security on i-mode?
i-mode is set up to use SSL security if required. SSL secure https sessions are
used for securely exchanging credit card data, for electronic banking and
other transactions requiring security. If you site is an official site, or
if the subscriber cooperates site operators can have access to the handset/subscriber
identification code, so that you can verify the idendity of the handset. Some handsets
have fingerprint recognition chips, so that fingerprint verification is possible.
DoCoMo has immediate access to lock any handset subscription if necessary, so if
a handset is lost, the handset connection can be locked remotely within a short time
after recognising the loss.
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5.7 Partnerships with DoCoMo, KDDI/AU and Vodafone?
DoCoMo, KDDI/AU and Vodafone enter into a wide range of business partnerships to promote
their business, and to introduce services the customers want.
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