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Google Forges Search Partnership with Japan's Top Mobile Provider NTT DoCoMo Mountain View, California-based Internet search engine leader Google has formed a Web  search and e-mail partnership with Japan's largest mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. that will bring many of the U.S. company's services to the handsets of NTT DoCoMo's 53 million customers in Japan by spring 2008 followed by forthcoming services using Google's Android mobile platform, the two firms announced Thursday in Tokyo. Details of how the two firms would split revenues in the deal were not disclosed. Partnership Details The NTT DoCoMo partnership will make Google the default homepage on its customer's popular "I-mode" handsets and is aimed at helping it hold onto users in a tightly competitive market and lower research and development costs while increasing revenue, the companies said at a news conference that took place to provide details of the partnership. Beginning in spring 2008 Google search results will also be the standard from Tokyo-based NTT DoCoMo's portal Web site whether accessed from a desktop computer or mobile device, the companies said. Google's successful AdWords advertising platform will display keyword-based advertisements alongside search engine results pages (SERPs). The firms will work to make several of Google's popular services easier to access using NTT DoCoMo's handsets, such as GMail email, Picasa photo albums, the YouTube video-sharing Web site, and Google Maps for Mobile, the companies said. The partnership aims to generate annual revenues of 10 billion yen, or $94.3 million, from Google's online advertising services beginning "as soon as possible," said NTT DoCoMo Executive Vice-President Kiyoyuki Tsujimura. Controls More Than Half of Mobile Market Although it has some 53 million mobile subscribers at the end of September 2007 and controls more than half of the mobile market in Japan, NTT DoCoMo has in recent months  faced difficulty attracting new users due to tough competition from its rivals, who have driven down rates and launched vigorous sales campaigns. Japan had over 100 million mobile users at the end of 2007, with a large number, some 70 percent, using their mobile handsets to access the Internet. NTT DoCoMo is a pioneer in so-called third-generation cell phone which have Internet access capabilities. Of NTT DoCoMo's 53 million customers, nearly 48 million subscribe to its third-generation "I-mode" service. Japan was the first country to fully embrace the mobile Internet and has since grown into the world's most broadly developed mobile marketplace, according to Google senior vice president of global sales and business development Omid Kordestani. "Japan's mobile Internet services lead the world," said NTT DoCoMo senior vice president and managing director of multimedia services Takeshi Natsuno. "It's no wonder that big U.S. companies are paying attention to Japan," Natsuno said. Google Japan's president Norio Murakami echoed those sentiments at today's news conference. "This alliance in Japan - the most advanced market for mobile services with the most sophisticated users - is very important not only for Google Japan but also for Google's strategy as a whole," said Murakami. In May 2006 Google formed a partnership with KDDI Corp., Japan's second largest mobile carrier, and with Thursday's announcement of its deal with NTT DoCoMo, Google can now claim deals with Japan's top two mobile providers, together controlling more than 80 percent of the country's mobile market. In July 2007 KDDI made public an email service using Google's GMail, in addition to offering the U.S. company's search services. Savings in Content Development In Japan mobile service carriers are increasingly partnering with search engine firms, which can provide more cost efficient content than they can on their own, especially with the lowering of data-transmission charges firms have been forced to implement in a highly competitive market experiencing a price war. Google, with its pre-built applications and services, offers an attractive alternative to NTT DoCoMo. "The difference between other companies' and our new services is that we will offer all of the services that Google has," Natsuno said. "We're very excited about the amount of mobile broadband infrastructure investment that's been made in this market. We think there is an immense opportunity here," said Kordestani. Yahoo Tops in Japan Google is not as dominant in Japan as in the U.S. and other global regions, lagging far behind leader Yahoo Japan Corp., which has a partnership with the country's third largest mobile provider Softbank Corp. Softbank, which entered the market in Japan in 2006 when it purchased the local Vodafone property, owns shares totaling 40 percent of Yahoo Japan. Compared to Yahoo, Google arrived late in the Japanese mobile market, and although it does hold the top search engine spot in the country, Yahoo Japan still receives twice as many users, according to November figures from Web traffic analysis firm NetRatings Japan. "We view that those barriers between the PC and mobile devices are long gone in sophisticated markets like Japan, and that a lot of new users are really experiencing the Internet through mobile devices primarily," Google's Kordestani said. Android Platform to Receive Boost The agreement announced Thursday is an effort to expand the business of both firms, and is expected to lead to a closer alliance between the two and to the eventual launch of  mobile handsets in Japan based on Google's Linux-based Android platform, most likely during the second half of 2008. "We are starting discussions to offer handsets that will have the Android operating system," Natsuno said. "When I look at the prototype, the Android-based handset works really well even on some of the cheaper handset designs," he added. NTT DoCoMo is one of the founding members of the Android development group known as the Open Handset Alliance, a coalition of 40 companies including many of the top cell phone companies in the world. NTT DoCoMo will continue to work not only with Google and the Open Handset Alliance, but with the platforms from rival developers as well, such as the Access Linux Platform (ALP) of Japanese software firm Access, the company said. Natsuno hinted that NTT DoCoMo will probably not be working to bring Apple's iPhone to its customers in Japan, noting that "there is no room for DoCoMo to add its own flavor" on the Apple device. Google Forges Search Partnership with Japan's Top Mobile Provider NTT DoCoMo In November 2007 NTT DoCoMo doubled the number of "I-mode" handsets in Japan capable of high-speed transfers of media such as movies and music. During the past week the mobile market in Japan has seen the announcements of several large deals, including China's top search engine firm Baidu lauching a Web site in Japan, and Softbank's partnership in Japan with U.S. entertainment firm Disney. NTT DoCoMo shares closed slightly higher than the Nikkei average. Related Links:
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1:03 am on Jan. 25, 2008 (utc 0)