Deliver Your News to the World

NTT DoCoMo and LAWSON Agree on Alliance


WEBWIRE

TOKYO, JAPAN, March 28, 2006 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and LAWSON, Inc. today announced a business alliance that will result in customers using DoCoMo’s Osaifu-Keitai™ phones with wallet functions for a variety of practical mobile services at LAWSON convenience stores, such as making credit card payments and obtaining information about store promotions.

In addition, DoCoMo will acquire 2,092,000 shares of LAWSON common stock owned by LAWSON as treasury stock, or about 2% of total issued shares, for about nine billion yen on April 14, 2006 (tentative date). The capital tie-up will strengthen cooperation and facilitate faster development and implementation of new services.

The deals will converge substantial business assets of the two companies, namely DoCoMo’s more than 50 million mobile phone subscribers and LAWSON’s some 8,300 convenience stores nationwide. The combination of brands, customer bases, know-how and experience will result in a variety of convenient, value-added services.

Initially, about 100 LAWSON convenience stores will introduce DoCoMo’s iD™ credit card payment service for “Osaifu-Keitai” wallet services by April 30, 2006. The service will be expanded to all LAWSON stores nationwide by March 31, 2007. In addition, users of DoCoMo phones set up for the ToruCa™ information-capture service will be able to receive announcements about in-store promotions. This service will be offered by all stores by March 31, 2007.

Going forward, the two companies will hold regular meetings to consider various ways to enhance the collaboration, such as:

- Provide LAWSON club members with iD-linked “Osaifu-Keitai” services
- Offering ad-distribution services via ToruCa
- Installing iD-compatible readers on ATMs in LAWSON stores
- Linking the DoCoMo Coin™ and LAWSON purchase-point programs
- LAWSON stores providing administrative services for certain DoCoMo services
- Developing store operations utilizing “Osaifu-Keitai”
- Utilizing both companies’ resources to provide new services at LAWSON stores



About NTT DoCoMo
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.nttdocomo.com.
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.
“Osaifu-Keitai”, iD, DoCoMo Coin and ToruCa are trademarks 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.



About LAWSON
LAWSON is the one of biggest franchiser for convenience stores business in Japan, having 3,000 employees; the number of stores exceeds 8,300 as of February 28, 2006. LAWSON presents three different types of convenience stores. Regular LAWSON targets at male customer between 20’s and 40’s, who is so-called CVS core target. Natural LAWSON provides “Beauty” and “Health” to female customer between 20’s and 40’s who do not hesitate to pay premium prices to premium products. Lastly, LAWSON STORE 100, whose targets are housewives and elderly customers, offers products at a flat-rate price of only ¥100 per item. For more information, please visit www.lawson.co.jp



WebWireID11756





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.