TOKYO, JAPAN, November 7, 2005 --- Tower Records Japan Inc. (TRJ) and NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that they will form a business alliance through a capital tie-up to jointly offer various DoCoMo phone services.
The capital tie-up will enable TRJ and DoCoMo to leverage mutually beneficial strengths. TRJ, aiming "To Be The Best Place to Find Music," operates an extensive network of more than 100 outlets in Japan and has developed a very strong brand, particularity among young people and music lovers. DoCoMo boasts about 50 million customers and extensive know-how in operating i-mode mobile Internet and "Osaifu-Keitai" wallet services. The combination of these strengths and resources will foster new value-added services and increase convenience for both company's customers.
TRJ sees great potential in mobile phone as a tool for marketing through this tie-up. DoCoMo expects to increase the value of its mobile phones as essential tools for everyday life by turning them into powerful devices for enjoying music related information.
TRJ will become a model retailer for the implementation of DoCoMo's coming new credit payments service using "Osaifu-Keitai" wallet phones. In addition, users of DoCoMo's new "ToruCa" information-capture service will provide to obtain information such as artists, CDs, special offers from recording labels and more at TRJ stores.
DoCoMo will acquire an approximate 42% stake in TRJ for about 12.8 billion yen in the form of shares through third-party allocations and others around late November.
About TOWER RECORDS JAPAN INC.
Company History: Established in Japan as a branch office of the US company MTS Inc. in 1979, and incorporated as Tower Records Japan (TRJ) in 1981. Completed management buyout in October 2002, and announced new organizational structure. Acquired 100% of stock of Wave Co., LTD. in April 2004.
Currently, TRJ operates 78 stores as Tower Records under Tower brand and 31 stores as Wave brand. NMNL LTD., its wholly owned subsidiary is engaged in operating e-commerce site'@TOWER.JP,' online music information site 'bounce.com,' mobile website 'TOWER MOBILE,' and publishing three free magazines, 'bounce,' 'intoxicate,' and 'TOWER'.
About NTT DoCoMo, Inc.
NTT DoCoMo is the world's leading mobile communications company, serving more than 50 million customers. The company offers a wide variety of leading-edge mobile multimedia services, including i-mode® which provides e-mail and Internet access to over 45 million subscribers as the world's most popular mobile Internet service, and FOMA®, launched in 2001 as the world's first 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA. In addition to wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia, the company is expanding its global reach through strategic alliances with mobile and multimedia service providers in Asia-Pacific and Europe.
NTT DoCoMo is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and
New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit
www.docomo.ne.jp/english.
i-mode and FOMA are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries.
NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service is only available to subscribers in Japan.
ToruCa is a trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan.
"Osaifu-Keitai" refers to mobile phones equipped with a contactless IC card for useful online functions/services such as electronic money, credit card payments, electronic ticketing, memberships, and more.
