German mobile operator E-Plus is shutting down its i-Mode service as of 1 April, one of the last major European networks to abandon the Japanese import, TelecomTV reports. Germany’s third largest operator launched the service in 2002, when i-Mode was an undisputed success in Japan, serving then some 30 million subscribers. At a time when WAP was being maligned as a slow, clunky way to browse the mobile web, pilgrimages were made to NTT DoCoMo head office and to Japan to try to understand what made i-Mode tick. But the service never quite took off in Europe, and throughout the 6 years E-Plus has offered i-Mode, it has never revealed user figures. Last year, O2, killed the service less than two years after licensing it from DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM). In the UK, i-Mode only attracted 260,000 users at its height—after O2 spent some £10 million licensing and marketing it. I-Mode’s demise in Europe is a simple, cautionary tale for the industry: a service that works in one country doesn’t always translate to another, especially when the business model is being upended by new technology. i-Mode’s business model—in which operators made most of their money on the data charge—was superseded by the rise of flat rate data packages.

• DoCoMo Phones To Be Stripped Down For Lower-Price Options; I-Mode-Free
• O2 To Dump i-mode In UK; No New Handsets Anymore