Net handsets arrive before services, Nextel rolls out Web-capable unit, Samsung on deck
By Emily Church, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:52 PM ET Jun 8, 1999
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Handsets that allow mobile phone users to
access the Internet are already arriving, even though the actual service is
lagging behind.
Nextel (NXTL: news, msgs) announced Tuesday
it's begun selling the i1000plus phone that includes
a Web browser at $299 retail. Nextel expects to
roll out the online service nationwide, which
includes e-mail and Web access, in the first half of
next year.
Nextel will test the service this year in the United
States, including Washington, D.C., New York,
Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and the Carolinas
region.
Samsung, another handset provider, also has a
Web-ready phone and is expecting one of its
"major wireless" clients to roll out Internet service in
the fourth quarter, Peter Skarzynski, vice president
of sales at Samsung Telecommunications America,
told CBS.MarketWatch.com.
On June 4, wireless network provider Spring PCS
(PCS: news, msgs), a Samsung customer,
announced it would introduce Internet services with Web portal Yahoo
(YHOO: news, msgs) for its wireless phone users. The service, to be
called Sprint PCS My Yahoo, will begin in the fourth quarter of this year.
Nextel's Chief Financial Officer Steven Shindler told an audience of fund
managers Tuesday at the PaineWebber Growth & Technology
conference that selling the handset ahead of the service will give Nextel a
"leg up" against competitors. See Renegade Reports.
Shares of Nextel were unchanged at 37 after the presentation. The stock
is up 57 percent year-to-date and up 1.7 percent over the past month.
Meanwhile, Nextel is
aiming at signing up 50
percent to 60 percent
of its subscriber base
for the wireless data
service next year, he
said. Nextel has yet to
determine whether to
charge customers per
message, per byte or
per second of use, but Shindler floated an expectation of $5 to $10 per
customer, per month for the data service, adding that some customers
would likely pay more.
At a $5 to $10 a month rate, Nextel would be charging less than two-way
pager services. The aim is "to offer a more robust (service) and charge
something less to get (subscribers) to use it," he said.
Motorola (MOT: news, msgs) is Nextel's equipment supplier.
cbs.marketwatch.com:80/archive/19990608/news/current/nxtl.htx?source=htx/http2_mw
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