TOKYO, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Japan's largest mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. will tie up with U.S. Internet search engine Google Inc. to promote its Internet service for mobile phone users, Kyodo News said Tuesday.

    Through the tie-up with the World's No. 1 search engine, NTT DoCoMo will apply Google's search and e-mail functions to its proprietary i-mode Internet service for handset customers, Kyodo News citing a report said, citing unnamed company sources. The i-mode service was launched in Japan as early as in 1999.

    The major mobile phone operator may introduce mobile phones equipped with Google technology next spring. The company envisions developing a new type of mobile phone equipped with Google technology and a new mobile phone function using it, the report said.

    NTT DoCoMo accounts for more than half of Japan's mobile phone market, with over 51 million subscribers as of March 2006, according to the company.