02 pulls the plug on 'outmoded' i-mode

O2 is to pull the plug on its much-hyped i-mode online service after less than two years on the UK market.

The mobile phone company said that it was phasing out the service - developed originally by Japan's NTT DoCoMo - because of the limited number of i-mode compatible handsets available.

The estimated 260,000 02 subscribers currently using i-mode - only 3% of its 16 million customers in the UK and Ireland - will still be able to get the service for a further two years but 02 won't launch any new i-mode handsets.

When 02 launched i-mode exclusively on 1 October 2005 it was hailed as a revolution in mobile online services which already had 50 million users across 22 countries. It was pitched as the solution to just about everything - from instant restaraunt bookings to adult downloads.

However the recent trend towards flat-rate tariffs has left the pay-as-you-surf model of i-mode looking increasingly unappealing. And the boast that 'i-mode is faster than WAP' is also less compelling when 3G handsets offering much quicker downloads are more and more commonplace.

02's final i-mode announcement was a long way from the pomp and circumstance of its launch: "i-mode is part of the evolution of the mobile internet but not the end point."