NTT DoCoMo announced today that the companies will launch "i-channel", a news and information service, and compatible handsets, the 3G FOMA 701i series.

Subscribers to i-channel will automatically receive various content, such as news, weather, entertainment reports, sports news and horoscopes, delivered to the phone's standby screen as telop text. By pushing the i-channel button, a channel list will appear and the user can select the channel they want to view.

The service costs 150 yen per month for receiving automatic telop text news and information, which will be updated about every two hours.

The service will be launched concurrently with three FOMA 701i models, which are to be released shortly. FOMA 701i handsets will be compatible with the i-channel service and all standard FOMA services and functions, including videophone, ChakuUta ring songs, ChakuMotion ring videos, Deco-mail decorative e-mails, i-appli JAVA and Macromedia Flash applications.