This ability to process micropayments, still a sticking point for commerce on the wired Internet, has been a key to the success of early m-commerce in Japan. Japanese users have an aversion to giving out credit card numbers over the Internet and appreciate the convenience of receiving just one bill. The subscription revenue model opens the door for other innovative approaches. Naturally, this business model is also being applied for to be patented. Entertainment media companies offer melodies, wallpapers, idol photos, and games.
Financial institutions offer online banking, stock quotes, and trading.
Information providers offer news, navigation, and listings for jobs, restaurants, apartments, movies, and horse races. Ticketing services offer reservations for concerts, sports events, trains, planes, and rental cars. Shopping sites offer the usual online fare of books, CDs, games, and video. Transactions other than subscription fees are not handled by the carriers' billing services, and users must still rely on credit cards or other traditional payment methods. And if the over 10,000 and growing unofficial i-mode sites start offering for free the same kind of contents as the official pay sites, the pay sites may have to start considering other revenue models besides subscription fees.