Pat, there was a second announcement re BA, and it reads a little different.
Conference Call said Nokia would demo a new phone with browser. I also got the picture that Nokia and Ericsson are actually the 2 main competitors. They were discounted as lesser, ("First Gen vs PHCM's 4th gen products"), but they are still a worry. I'd be most interested to hear your report from WAP as to the competitive nature. Also watching Wireless Knowledge. Regards, Mark
Bell Atlantic To Deploy Wireless Application Protocol 07/20/99
Newsbytes, Tuesday, July 20, 1999 at 12:14
REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1999 JUL 20 (NB) -- By Grant Buckler, Newsbytes. Bell Atlantic Corp.'s [NYSE:BEL] Bell Atlantic Mobile operation will use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) to give its customers access to electronic mail and information from their cellphones and to simplify phone upgrades. Bell Atlantic will deploy Phone.com, Inc.'s [NASDAQ:PHCM] microbrowser and associated server software with Motorola Inc. [NYSE:MOT] digital phones.
The service should be commercially available early next year, Bell Atlantic Mobile spokeswoman Andrea Linskey told Newsbytes. Customers will need to buy the new Motorola phones in order to use it. Linskey said it is too early to discuss details of the company's marketing plans, such as additional monthly charges for the service.
Using Phone.com's UP.Browser, phone subscribers will be able to view specially tailored Internet and intranet content on the display screens of their phones. A spokesman for Phone.com explained that the micro-browser works with Phone.com's UP.Link server software, which delivers content using wireless markup language (WML) rather than the hypertext markup language (HTML) used for most World Wide Web content.
Bell Atlantic is at least the fourth US wireless carrier to announce plans to use Phone.com's micro-browser. Sprint PCS and Nextel have announced plans for trials in the fourth quarter. SouthernLink, a regional carrier, has also announced plans for the technology, the Phone.com spokesman told Newsbytes.
Bell Atlantic Mobile said it will be able to deliver information such as news, stock prices, weather reports, and sports reports to digital cellular phones using the system. WAP will also let the carrier download software updates to phones over the air. That will mean the carrier can provide up-to-date roaming information to ensure that when subscribers travel, their phones will use wireless networks preferred by Bell Atlantic. It will also be possible to update area code information automatically, meaning that when area codes change - as they have been doing frequently in the US in recent years - subscribers will not need to bring their phones to a dealer for reprogramming, Linskey said.
Bell Atlantic Mobile is at bam.com on the Web.
Reported By Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com
(19990720/Press Contact: Andrea Linskey, Bell Atlantic Mobile, 908-306-7845, e-mail linskan@bam.com; Jennifer Weyrauch, Motorola, 847-523-0015, e-mail jennifer.weyrauch@motorola.com; Rowan Benecke, PR21 for Phone.com, 415-439-8811, e-mail rowan_benecke@pr21.com/WIRES TELECOM, BUSINESS/) |
