AOL turning Japanese with DoCoMo

AOL and Japanese mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo have signed a big touchy feely deal in which they will both work on the mobile Internet market. It not actually official yet (probably formally announced today) but then it's hard to keep a $100 million deal quiet.

That, incidentally, in the sum that DoCoMo is expected to invest in AOL Japan. It will also be taking a 42 per cent cut of AOL Japan, but it's not buying it, right? DoCoMo, if you didn't know, is the company behind the great mobile success in Japan of i-Mode - a kind of useful form of WAP. AOL's share in AOL Japan will slip from 50 per cent to 39 per cent.

Is this a good deal? Yes, it is - for both companies. NTT DoCoMo, not matter what people tell you, is still pretty small and insignificant. It's had a lot of interest because of i-Mode's success and WAP's failure and has used this to grab an alliance with AOL - sadly, one of the most powerful Internet companies. It is also good news for AOL. It gets entry into the Japanese market (always nice) and it gets access to i-Mode technology.

There's inevitable talk of i-Mode being pushed into Europe and the States. There's little chance of this happening with the current technology but you can be sure AOL and DoCoMo will be working on the next generation with expansion in mind. If it doesn't catch on elsewhere, AOL is still a winner because it will have the Japanese market. ®

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