In June 2002, Far Eastone was the second company in Asia to promote the imode system. These services included Internet banking, news information, entertainment, search portals (google) and the most popular ‘imode email’ of the five services available. Customers might peruse websites anywhere and anytime. The main imode service within the Far Eastone website was very youthful, diversifying, lively and colorful (see Figure 1). It makes people feel welcome and encourages them to be interested in it and explains how it works (see Figure 2, 3) also shows which latest mobile phones can use this system (see Figure 4). Far Eastone has 7 hundred million users and owns 1/3 of the mobile market. In the market 57% are male and most people who look at this website are between 21 to 35, this age group accepts the high technology information very well. They are always using the latest products in various areas, for example, IPod (mp3), internet, DVD, digital camera and so on.
This website displays the details of this system: how to use it and the price of mobile phone. It teaches people how to use the phone step by step (see Figure 5). Consumers will understand how to use their mobile phone to browse the Internet through this page. The website button makes everything clear and what is it talking about. All customers are satisfied when they are able to find the information they want. The principal color of imode is yellow, which is the button color. If you had a business you want to import into this system, there is a page inside it, which tells you whom you can contact. Also when the user has questions on how to use the service there is another page call FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to point out the most problems that user might have.
Basically this website is easy to use, clear to understand and the simple label is not confuse people. But I think it would be good if the website designer put up another site or page for: “the opinion of users”, so whoever has used the service can talk about their experience with it and let others know if that service is what they are looking for or not. It also can improve their businesses service.
What is the future of mobile data services in the UK? This question has been on the minds of content and application developers for some years, but imode, arriving later this year, promises some optimistic answers. Imode is an important development for the UK because it solves three big problems associated with mobile data. Customers can access content in a similar way as they use a fixed-line Internet.
The combination of these benefits has created a powerful force in other countries, including Japan, where it originated. Imode has 42 million users accessing more than 80,000 sites, and 12 operators offer imode in Europe. The upshot of all this is that users are spending more time and money using imode than any other comparable form of data.
So, with an opportunity to make serious money and engage a new generation of customers, the potential for developer involvement and innovation is huge - a real step forward for mobile data services in the UK. In imode business strategy forums, it shows the imode growth in UK in 2005 is nearly 14.2 million, although it only started in July 2005. It really is amazing.
The O2 imode website has a general style, there is menu bar on the left hand side of the window (see Figure 6). This structure makes consumers easily find the things they are looking for, but the business attract clients aged over 20, who follow fashion, 3C (Computer, Communication and Consumer Electronic) goods and the latest products. The website is uninteresting. The page that promotes the cell phones with imode is inflexible as well (see Figure 7), because there is no animation. However the demo pages are quite fascinating, because the Flash trailer and demonstration film makes shoppers attentive, makes them curious and want to use it (see Figure 8, 9, 10, 11, 12). The page ‘see imode’ uses real phone images to show buyers how imode is humorous (see Figure 13). In my opinion, if the O2 website designer uses the Taiwanese and Japanese imode websites as references (see Figure 14, 15) it would make their website more humorous. It will be much more eye catching to shoppers. It was really hard to find out the age and the gender group who use the imode in the O2 service, because this service just started about 2 mouths ago.
I met other students who gave me many opinions about these two websites. They all like the Taiwanese version, because it felt friendlier, charming and fashionable. The other website felt too business like, less informative and not as funny. However O2 did a great job through the demo of using imode, it used different mobile phones for each demo so buyers can feel excited.
In conclusion, in the mid 1990s, cyberspace became celebrated in daily newspapers and television spots, and the tenth edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary confidently defined it as “the on-line world of computer networks”. In the 21st century the Internet became one of main tools of advertisements, some companies made their websites very unique to show how different they are. They also put all their researches and information in them and built contact links to let their buyers get in touch with them anytime. It is really important “if you want to have a great business, make your websites nicer”.
The Taiwanese imode website really made a successful promotion to sell the imode service by using a website with that design, structure, style and using demos as references. This website really helps the company improve their business, because each day the number of guests browsing it increases.
Illustrations
Fig.1
The main imode service page of Far Eastone, 2002
Fig. 2
The show page of imode service of Far Eastoen, 2002
Fig. 3
The show page of using imode system of Far Eastoen, 2002
Fig. 4
The phone information and price page of Far Eastoen, 2002
Fig. 5
The step byt step page of Far Eastone, 2002
Fig. 6
The main imode system page of O2, 2005
Fig. 7
The imode phone information and price page of O2, 2005
Fig. 8
The Flash imode demo trailer of O2, 2005
Fig. 9
The egg imode trailer of O2, 2002
Fig. 10
The imail demo of O2, 2002
Fig. 11
The lastminute demo of O2, 2005
Fig. 12
The sky sport demo of O2, 2005
Fig. 13
The step by step of imode system of O2, 2005
Fig. 14
The NTT DoCoMo’s main imode website, 1997
Fig, 15
The imode service page of NTT DoCoMo, 1999
Bibliography
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INTERNET SITES
List of illustrations
Fig.1 The main imode service page of Far Eastone, 2002 Page 4
http://www.fetnet.net/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1129520594101&pagename=%40IMode%2FPage%2FiModeHomePageT&c=Page
Fig. 2 The show page of imode service of Far Eastoen, 2002 Page 4
http://www.fetnet.net/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=@IMode/Page/iM2PageT&cid=1130241360268
Fig. 3 The show page of using imode system of Far Eastoen, 2002 Page 4
http://www.fetnet.net/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&t=iModeSevereServiceT&pagename=@IMode/Page/iModeSevereServiceT&cid=1130241360245
Fig. 4 The phone information and price page of Far Eastoen, 2002 Page 4
http://www.fetnet.net/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&t=iModeMobilePageT&pagename=@IMode/Page/iModeMobilePageT&cid=1129520657634
Fig. 5 The step byt step page of Far Eastone, 2002 Page 5
http://www.fetnet.net/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=@IMode/Page/iM2PageT&cid=1130241360268
Fig. 6 The main imode system page of O2, 2005 Page 6
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/index.html
Fig. 7 The imode phone information and price page of O2, 2005 Page 6
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/imode_phones.html
Fig. 8 The Flash imode demo trailer of O2, 2005 Page 7
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/imode_demo.html
Fig. 9 The egg imode trailer of O2, 2005 Page 7
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/imode_demo.html
Fig. 10 The imail demo of O2, 2005 Page 7
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/imode_demo.html
Fig. 11 The lastminute demo of O2, 2005 Page 7
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/imode_demo.html
Fig. 12 The sky sport demo of O2, 2005 Page 7
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/imode_demo.html
Fig. 13 The step by step of imode system of O2, 2005 Page 7
http://flash.o2.co.uk/imode/see_imode_generic.html
Fig. 14 The NTT DoCoMo’s main imode website, 1997 Page 7
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/
Fig, 15 The imode service page of NTT DoCoMo, 1999 Page 7
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/service/imode/index.html
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