In late 2001, domestic heavyweight NTT DoCoMo, flying high on the popularity of its i-mode mobile Web service, launched the world's first ultrahigh-speed, "third-generation" wireless network.
By now, Japanese i-moders were supposed to be busily videoconferencing, watching movies, listening to audio in real-time and speedily 3G-surfing the Web pretty much everywhere. Instead, 3G seems stuck in neutral and DoCoMo -- resoundingly brought to earth by the embarrassing meltdown of multibillion-yen i-mode-based investments in European and American mobile carriers -- appears to have gotten its fingers burned.
Critics gleefully point to continuing problems with the carrier's FOMA (Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access) 3G network, including lack of coverage, buggy terminals, anemic battery life -- and glaringly few subscribers.