biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday July 7, 8:30 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Phone.com, Inc.
DDI and IDO Launch Service Using Phone.com UP.Link Server Suite
DDI and IDO Corporation's EZweb and EZaccess Services Give Wireless Subscribers PIM, Email and PC Web Access
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Phone.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHCM - news) today announced that two of Japan's largest cellular carriers, DDI Corporation and IDO Corporation have launched wireless Internet access services based on the Phone.com(TM) UP.Link(TM) Server Suite for their Japanese wireless customers using the Japan-wide cdmaOne(TM) network. The services, announced and launched in Japan in April 1999, are branded under two names: DDI Corporation's EZweb and IDO Corporation's EZaccess.
(Photo: newscom.com )
Another integral player in this new commercial rollout of WAP-based services is Hitachi, Ltd. of Japan. Hitachi licenses the Phone.com UP.Browser microbrowser, enabling it to offer wireless Internet and data features on its cdmaOne phones. The first product shipped under this global agreement is the Hitachi C201H cdmaOne phone for the Japanese market. This is Hitachi's first handset to enable access to the cdmaOne network.
Japanese wireless subscribers using Hitachi's phone have access to Internet-based services through both EZweb (DDI) and EZaccess (IDO). Both services include wireless delivered email and over 100 content sites, including news, stocks, weather, travel, and sports. In addition, subscribers have PIM and PC web access.
"Our EZweb service has been very successful in the market," said Mr. Onodera, vice president of DDI. "Japanese consumers have shown they want and need Internet information access from the screens of their cdmaOne phones."
"The rapid sales of EZaccess phones show us we have found a successful combination of services," said Mr. Akimasa Egawa, chairman of IDO. "The voice quality of cdmaOne with the standards-based Phone.com microbrowser and Internet information services give great value to our customers."
"Phone.com is delivering on our strategy to work with world class telecommunications companies to provide Internet access on mass market phones," said Chuck Parrish, executive vice-president for Phone.com. "We are delighted to partner with two of the largest Japanese wireless carriers to successfully introduce global standards-based Web-enabled phones to the Japanese marketplace."
The UP.Link Server Suite is an open and robust system that enables interactive Internet information services and telephony applications on wireless handsets running the UP.Browser. Phone.com's UP.Browser software is a WAP-compatible microbrowser designed and optimized for mass-market wireless telephones. Due to its open and highly portable architecture, UP.Browser can be embedded into different types of wireless telephones and utilize each mobile phone's specific display and input characteristics, giving network operators a new way to reach subscribers and add innovative services, with seamless integration of voice and data services.
About DDI Corporation
DDI Corporation is Japan's second largest telecommunications carrier, providing long-distance and international telephone, internet providing services, cellular telephone and PHS (Personal-Handy Phone System) services. It also holds interests in Iridium project. The DDI CELLULAR GROUP, consisting of eight regional Cellular Telephone Companies which are subsidiaries of DDI, is providing cellular services in 800 MHz band since July, 1989 and has more than 5.5 million subscribers as of May 1999. The DDI CELLULAR GROUP launched cdmaOne service since July, 1998 and has completed cdmaOne network in April 1999 in cooperation with IDO Corporation.
About IDO Corporation
IDO Corporation is one of Japan's largest cellular carriers, with 62.8% ownership by Toyota Motors Corp. IDO has been in business for over 10 years located in the economic heart of Japan. IDO now services over 3.4 million subscribers. In 1996, IDO established its R&D facility ''IDO Lab'' in Seattle, WA to evaluate new wireless technologies and enhanced services applications. In April 1999, IDO launched a cdmaOne network in its service area. IDO plans to provide 64.4 Kbps packet data service and international roaming services along with DDI Corp., at the end of this year.
About Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1998 (ended March 31, 1999) consolidated sales of 7,977 billion yen ($65.9 billion*). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment.
For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at hitachi.co.jp. At an exchange rate of 121 yen to the dollar.
About Phone.com
Phone.com, Inc. (formerly Unwired Planet, Inc.) is a leading provider of software that enables the delivery of Internet-based services to mass-market wireless telephones. Using its software, wireless subscribers have access to Internet- and corporate intranet-based services, including Email, news, stocks, weather, travel and sports. In addition, subscribers have access via their wireless telephones to network operators' intranet-based telephony services, which may include over-the-air activation, call management, billing history information, pricing plan subscription and voice message management. Phone.com is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California and has regional offices in London and Tokyo. Visit phone.com for more information.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Phone.com's limited operating history, potential fluctuations in the company's operating results, uncertainties related to the company's long sales cycle and reliance on a small number of customers, the company's dependence on the acceptance of its products by network operators and wireless subscribers, the company's ability to adequately address the rapidly-evolving market for delivery of Internet-based services through wireless telephones, the need to achieve widespread integration of Phone.com's browser in wireless telephones, competition from companies with substantially greater financial, technical, marketing and distribution resources and the ability of Phone.com to manage a complex set of engineering, marketing and distribution relationships. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Phone.com's prospectus dated June 10, 1999 and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NOTE: The Phone.com name and logo and the family of terms carrying the "UP." prefix are trademarks of Phone.com, Inc. All other company, brand and product names may be marks that are the sole property of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Phone.com, Inc. |
