Monday, Dec. 03, 2001
Keiji Tachikawa
NTT DoCoMo, CEO
Keiji Tachikawa spent over 35 years at stodgy Nippon Telegraph & Telephone before his career went wild and wireless. As CEO of NTT DoCoMo, NTT's previously obscure mobile-phone wing, he has overseen the success of i-mode, the mobile Internet service that set nearly 30 million pairs of Japanese thumbs tap-tap-tapping on hand-held keypads. Tachikawa, 62, has set up partnerships with Europeans and recently bought a 16% stake in AT&T Wireless. Both moves should serve DoCoMo well in its bid to promote "3g," the ultra-speedy, new-generation service that seeks to make cell phones indispensable multimedia tools.