Microsoft To Offer Messenger For DoCoMo Soon - Sources

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Microsoft will release a version of its Windows Live Messenger application for use on NTT DoCoMo mobile phones "very soon," sources at Microsoft say.

Windows Live Messenger is Microsoft's online chat program, which competes with a similar offering from Yahoo Japan. The Japanese mobile version will allow real-time chat with other users on PCs or phones, access to buddy lists, and a "wake-up" feature that will send e-mail to a user's phone when friends want to chat.

Microsoft will initially offer the Messenger chat application as a Java program available for download on mobile phones but hopes to eventually make it a standard feature on all DoCoMo handsets, a source said.

A DoCoMo spokesman said he had no knowledge of the application.

The software giant will also offer a version of the program for other domestic carriers later this year, the source said.

Chat applications have become possible on mobile phones recently, as competition among Japan's carriers has led to monthly plans that charge fixed amounts for unlimited data transmission. Programs like Messenger, which send large amounts of data to and from phones, would otherwise be too expensive for everyday users.

The new deal follows a May 11 announcement by DoCoMo and Microsoft on a tie-up to provide mobile music services on 3G handsets, and in January local media reported that DoCoMo would this year launch an advanced phone which ran a version of the Windows operating system.

While some observers feel that the two companies are approaching a major tie-up, others remain skeptical.

"I'm not sure of the benefit for DoCoMo. The number of users of i-mode far exceeds those of MSN, which isn't making a serious effort in Japan," said Nomura Research Institute analyst Hiroaki Kumakiri.

"For DoCoMo, MSN is not really an interesting partner," he said.

DoCoMo said it had more than 51 million users at the end of April. MSN had slightly more than 19 million unique visitors that month in Japan, according to data compiled by Nielsen/NetRatings, although the number of subscribers to e-mail and other services could be far less.

Earlier this month Japan's second-largest carrier, KDDI and ubiquitous search engine Google said they would jointly offer a search service for mobile phones. And it is seen as a foregone conclusion that Vodafone Japan K.K., the country's No. 3 carrier, and Yahoo Japan, both units of Softbank Corp. (9984.TO), will soon roll out joint offerings of their own.

-By Jay Alabaster, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929; jay.alabaster@dowjones.com
-Edited by Chris Gallagher and Tomoko Hosaka

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 1st June 2006