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Strategic Innovation
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Case Questions: (1) How did DoCoMo create distinctive value at low cost? How did DoCoMo combine the strength of the mobile phone and the PC-Internet? How did the value curve of DoCoMo’s i-mode differ from those of the mobile phone and PC-internet?
(2) Where and how did i-mode create new buyer utility? What is i-mode’s business model?
(3) How did NTT DoCoMo make profits out of its i-mode service?

(1) DoCoMo broke "Red Ocean" by ignoring the technology race and price competition in highly crowded voice-based market. The industry has reached a maturity stage and by taking a Breakaway positioning approach DoCoMo succeeded to reposition a mature …show more content…

However, i-mode provided communication, information, knowledge and entertainment via m-commerce services, games, tickets, reservation, secure trading, GPS. * PC-internet was providing wealth of information and entertainment content, but required expensive hardware, assumed time-consuming and complex signing in via dial-up and flooded the users with “the sea of information” on the web. i-mode was much cheaper than regular PC, easy to use and easy to access with the one-button to connect, and provided the “hotel concierge service” guiding the user to pre-approved quality content.
(2) i-mode offered an exceptional buyer utility with an affordable low price in the “nonreflecting” strategic zone, encouraging impulse buying and reaching the masses quickly * DoCoMo's i-mode changed the way people communicate and access information. Ohboshi identified the trends in customer needs:: * Use of email and web will quickly become “a cornerstone of everyday life” * Needs shift from physical goods to communication, information, and entertainment. * Due to ease of use and low-cost, the subscriber growth was fast. The offering enabled DoCoMo to reach beyond existing demand and to attract new customer segments – those who didn’t use mobile or email before, expanding to younger and older users.