(1888PressRelease)
June 25, 2009 - The service, named MANGA MODE™ (see logo below), is expected to appeal to the growing number of people who enjoy reading manga, a popular form of Japanese pop culture.
Customers of French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom S.A. will be able to use the service to download French translations of famous manga into their mobile phones and view them panel by panel using a dedicated reader. A MANGA MODE mobile website where customers can sign up for the service will be accessible from Bouygues Telecom's mobile web portal.
Manga titles to be provided by Japanese publisher SHUEISHA Inc. will include international hits such as NARUTO, DRAGON BALL and DEATH NOTE. Content will be distributed via Bitway Co., Ltd., a Japanese firm operating content-distribution servers.
DOCOMO and its overseas subsidiaries will consider opportunities to expand the manga-downloading service into other countries.
DOCOMO's Dutch subsidiary, originally set up as DOCOMO i-mode Europe B.V. to promote the overseas expansion of DOCOMO's mobile Internet platform, was renamed DOCOMO Netherlands B.V. on June 1 to reflect its involvement with a broadening scope of services.
About NTT DOCOMO
NTT DOCOMO is the world's leading mobile operator and provider of advanced mobile services. The company serves over 54 million customers in Japan, including 48 million using i-mode™, the world's most popular mobile e-mail/Internet platform, and 49 million using FOMA™, the world's original 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA. As a leader in the development of cutting-edge mobile technologies, DOCOMO is continually expanding the role of mobile phones as versatile and highly personalized "lifestyle tools" for everyday life, including with a wide range of innovative services for mobile payments, GPS, mobile TV, multimedia content and much more. NTT DOCOMO is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and New York (DCM) stock exchanges.
For more information, visit www.nttdocomo.com.
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