At the recent CeBIT 2001 trade show, DoCoMo introduced the conceptual terminals and service applications of "FOMA," the service brand name for its 3G (IMT-2000) wireless communications systems, which will go in to service in May. Visitors had a chance to try out ‘i appli,’ the new i-mode service, based on Sun Microsystems’ Java technology, which will be integrated into the latest i-mode handsets. In addition, they could see music and video content and location-based services delivered wirelessly.

DoCoMo, however, is playing down any suggestions that 3G phones, at least initially, will be cutting-edge devices. This maybe, in part, due to the fact that only two out the 11 handset manufacturers will be ready for the launch, according to Keiji Tachikawa, DoCoMo’s president.

Between them Matsushita Communications and NEC will be launching four new handsets, including a phone that can receive and send video, Mr. Tachikawa added. Apparently, it will take another two years before the Japanese telecom will be able to release the 16 new handsets, it has contracted, to its subscribers.

With the limited availability of 3G handsets, DoCoMo only expects to sell 150,000 handsets in the first year. "The service will be for the niche users in the beginning, Ben Nakamura, associated senior vice president of NEC’s mobile terminals operations, told FT.com.

It will be the i-mode subscribers, 20 million and growing, that are expected to keep the Japanese telecom in good standing as it builds its 3G services. Takahiro Morita, a telecom analyst with Moody’s Investors Service, told the New York Times that it will take two to three years before DoCoMo will be generating operating profits on 3G.