DoCoMo's International Ambition —continued

Several vendors have announced products that support both i-mode and the competing Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), confirming that i-mode is gaining momentum outside of its base in Japan.

My i-portal
At least one European wireless operator is creating an i-mode portal. In addition, AT&T Wireless will license i-mode technology in the wake of a major investment by NTT DoCoMo, which developed and controls i-mode.

Bluelark Systems has released its Blazer Personal Edition 1.0 wireless Web browser for the Palm OS platform. The browser supports i-mode, WAP and HTML.

Browsers and other wireless software for Palm and Pocket PC handhelds are becoming increasingly common as users increasingly subscribe to so-called wireless ISPs such as OmniSky and GoAmerica.

The browser is available for free download from the company's Web site.

Autonomous i-mode
Separately, Autonomy Corporation (Nasdaq: AUTN) said its Internet infrastructure products now support i-mode as well as WAP.

The addition will become part of the company's i-WAP software, which was introduced earlier this year. The company said it is adding i-mode support to position it to be a worldwide company.

"In Asia, we are working with NTT Software," said Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch. "In Europe, our iWAP technology is already utilized by customers, such as Ericsson. Regardless of which protocol North America embraces, we will support it."

Autonomy's software aggregates content written in a variety of formats and delivers targeted, personalized content to Web users, including those using wireless devices.

The i-mode module for i-WAP is available for Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, Linux, Sun Solaris and most versions of UNIX. The i-mode module will be available in the first quarter of 2001, the company said.

Linux i-mode
A Linux-based browser for i-mode from Japanese firm ACCESS Co., Ltd. has been licensed for use in devices developed by Motorola, the companies have announced. In addition, ACCESS has issued a minor upgrade for the product and a Software Development Kit (SDK).

Motorola said it will use ACCESS' NetFront browser in its wireless phones and pagers. The browser supports Compact HTML (cHTML), which is used in i-mode.

Separately, ACCESS said it is introducing a Software Development Kit (SDK) for NetFront. The kit is aimed at helping developers integrate the browser into Linux-based Net devices.

ACCESS claims NetFront has shipped in 18 million embedded devices from 40 manufacturers. It claims that, besides phones, the browser is appropriate for set-top boxes, handhelds and car navigation systems. It is in use in Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 game consoles and other devices from vendors such as Casio, Fujitsu, NEC and Sharp.

The company said the upgrade from version 2.5 to 2.6 adds a more customizable user interface, better bookmark management and an improved e-mail plug-in application. It also includes an optional SSL package for secure transactions.

The SDK with a five-seat development license is available for $40,000 plus run-time royalties.

PlayStation in i-mode
Future Sony Playstations sold in Japan will connect to the Internet via the i-mode service, NTT DoCoMo and Sony have announced.

The two companies have agreed to jointly develop a new service that combines the game console with NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service, which is popular in Japan. The companies said in a statement that they hope the collaboration will inspire software developers to create new games and services that take advantage of the integration.

The companies have agreed to jointly combine standard i-mode service, Java-enabled i-mode service and faster-bandwidth W-CDMA service with Playstation.

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