NTT DoCoMo is to launch an Apple-style application platform for its mass market “i-mode” mobile handsets, a move seen as a reaction by Japan’s biggest mobile operator to the success of the iPhone.

Ryuji Yamada, DoCoMo chief executive, said the group was planning to add the platform to its closed i-mode data service. Strict quality control has helped ensure i-mode’s success in turning Japanese subscribers into some of the heaviest users of mobile data services.

The plan marks a shift from DoCoMo’s practice of strictly controlling what applications and services are offered to its 50 million-plus i-mode users.

The move is the latest response by rivals to

Apple’s App Store. Nokia, Research in Motion and Samsung have launched application platforms in the past two years. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010