Wait, Taiwan? i-mode? Yep, turns out that Far EasTone Telecommunications licenses NTT DoCoMo's well-known mobile internet brand for use in Taiwan, and they've partnered with Nokia to deliver the service on a customized version of the 6124 classic candybar -- the first Nokia ever to offer it. Of course, no i-mode handset is complete without blazing data speeds, and sure enough, the 6124 classic delivers with support for HSDPA in addition to a 2 megapixel cam, QVGA display, and S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. Yep, that's right, not only is Nokia tying up with i-mode, they're doing so on an honest-to-goodness smartphone. Kudos!

[Via IntoMobile]

Think of it like myFaves, but where your faves have to be relatives (a nightmare for some, yes, we know). NTT DoCoMo is now offering free calls to family members when both are subscribed to the Japanese carrier's "Fami-wari MAX50" plan, in addition to a nice 60 percent off video calls. There's also this bizarre clause that allows for free family calling for folks that are subscribed to either "Family Discount" or "Office Discount" in addition to the new "Ichinen Discount" service and have contracts of at least one year in length -- and, oh yeah, have been DoCoMo subscribers for at least 10 flippin' years. The simple flow chart above should help explain it all.

Separately, DoCoMo is raising pricing on its i-mode mobile internet service from 210 ($1.95) to 315 yen ($2.93) per month, which we figure is still dirt cheap compared to pretty much anywhere else in the world. That's on top of packet data charges, though those remain unchanged.

Read - DoCoMo to Offer Free 24/7 Domestic Calling to Family Members
Read - NTT DoCoMo to Revise i-mode Monthly Charge

Nikkei reports that NTT DoCoMo is poised to integrate Google's suite of mobile services with its own i-mode goods, following KDDI's lead and offering a direct competitor to Softbank's Yahoo!-branded apps in one fell swoop. Overall, Google continues to trail Yahoo! in the hearts and minds of Japanese searchers, so the move positions Google to take advantage of DoCoMo's incredibly large user base while bolstering i-mode's existing offerings when it allegedly hits next spring. The market seems to agree that the deal's a really good idea, too, with DoCoMo stock rising 3.3 percent on the news.

Yeah, NTT DoCoMo's i-mode mobile data service does alright in Japan -- in fact, we curse the heavens every day that we aren't there to enjoy it -- but it has been met with considerably less success in the twelve other countries where it's offered in licensed form. O2 and Telstra are both phasing out their i-mode offerings -- O2 in 2009, Telstra in December -- with O2 saying that despite extremely high satisfaction among its i-mode users, a general lack of hardware available to support the service (isn't it just a deck of content on a 3G phone?) prevents it from moving forward. Of course, this doesn't spell the end of either carrier's mobile content or 3G efforts -- far from it, in fact -- with Telstra encouraging users to migrate to Next G.

i-mode might be a foreign concept here in the States -- if you don't count mMode, that is -- but in much of the world, carriers license the NTT DoCoMo-owned brand for marketing their mobile data services. Samsung has announced a trio of new models destined for i-mode, most interesting of the bunch being this here SGH-Z650i slider chock full o' UMTS, 132MB of storage expandable via microSD, Bluetooth, QVGA display, and a 2-megapixel shooter. Though the phone definitely won't be crossing the pond (in any official capacity, anyway) in its current incarnation, Samsung appears to be stepping up their involvement with Cingular's 3G network as of late -- so it's not unreasonable to think that we couldn't be getting something along these lines down the road.

[Thanks, Tony]

A brushed metal case and Bluetooth are all well and good, but the 160 x 128 display and VGA camera make LG's L343i clamshell reek of low-end -- not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. Besides the aforementioned Bluetooth, O2 customers opting for the spartan handset will get i-mode support, speakerphone, MP3 ringtones and, well, not much else. Occasionally -- occasionally -- simplicity can be refreshing. No official word on pricing or availability, but signs point to the L343i dropping in the UK shortly, and we have to believe it'll go for peanuts.

The time has apparently come in the SLVR's life cycle for Moto to start MLKNG it for everything it's worth -- this time around, imodephones is reporting that Motorola is about to drop the SLVR-like L6i and SLVR-proper L7i for O2's i-mode service. If you're familiar with the L6 and L7, you'll be right at home with their i-mode counterparts -- the chief difference is reported to be the addition of a 1.3 megapixel camera on both models (compared to VGA on the originals). We're on to your product lifecycle strategy, Moto, and while we're sure it pays the bills, it's boring. Spill some details on the SCPL and we promise to lay off for a while. For a few hours, anyway.

Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting that NTT DoCoMo is working to make all of its handsets GSM-compatible in the next two years, which would allow them to work in over 130 countries. Furthermore, DoCoMo's customers would have access to the popular i-mode Internet service in over 70 countries under the new plan, according to company sources quoted by the paper. Reuters reminds us that this move comes at a time when Japan's wireless industry is preparing for increased competition this fall, and may also be a response to the attractive packages Softbank can now offer thanks to their recent purchase of Vodafone Japan.