Ellen, I've been trying to figure out in what camp VodaPhone lies and it's still unclear. I think they will not buy Bell Atlantic, but may just partner with them as stated, but even so you would think this would require a compatible system strategy.
BA is a very good phcm customer, even modeling new systems as they are developed like provisioning. So, it would seem a bad day if they were lost. Hence my concrn about Vodaphone.
So, here's an article about Vodaphone's WAP entry. It seems to say it's still not determined, or announced who their WAP server provider is?
It is launching its new service - Vodafone Interactive - on November 1. Though it has not announced which WAP it will use, the company has said that Vodafone Interactive will contain the usual mix of news, sport, share prices and entertainment listings.
Regards, Mark
Within a few weeks you will be able to access the net using only a mobile phone. Here we tell you how
All together now: mobile phones and the web
Tony Dawe
tony.dawe@the-times.co.uk
Vodafone | Orange
The internet in your pocket, or at least a heavily edited version of it, will finally become available this month enabling users to access a wide range of information from a mobile phone.
Orange and Vodafone have already unveiled their multi-media services for people on the move and are just waiting for Nokia to provide the 7110 models which will deliver the services.
All indications are that the new mobiles will be in the shops within weeks and cost about £150. With Ericsson, Motorola and Siemens following up with their own models, the mobile phone operators are hoping that tens of thousands of customers will be enjoying the new opportunities offered by the latest breakthrough in mobile technology by the end of the year.
The services use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). A built-in browser enables the owner to surf pages written in a special stripped-down version of HTML (the language normal web pages are written in) called WML.
The first owners will be able to call up all the basic information services: news, weather, entertainment listings, rail times and road delays. As the services develop, Orange and Vodafone plan to introduce personal directories so that users can access a wider range of internet sites suited to their own interests.
Bob Fuller, Orange's chief operating officer, says: "With these services, we are providing customers with access to the best information that is currently available on the internet. They are designed to be, easy to use and tailored to the individual's needs, and are just the tip of the iceberg."
The Nokia 7110 is no bigger than existing mobiles and its unique feature is a tiny rollerball for selecting headings listed on screen instead of arrows.
Alison Brolis, Nokia's head of marketing in the UK, says: "We are taking the internet out of the office and literally putting it in people's hands."
Initial trials with WAP phones have found, however, that they can take time to connect to the various websites and hardly provide "information in an instant" as the operators would like us to believe.Looking for rail times, for example, involves calling the Railtrack site, keying in the first three letters of the stations you are travelling between and the time of your journey and then reconnecting if a query should arise. Finding out the information often took longer than calling the Railtrack inquiry number, 0345 484950.
Checking theatre times proved equally time-consuming and slower than looking at newspaper listings. The phone companies insist that both users and the service will get quicker with experience.
The WAP phones are simply the latest devices in a rapidly evolving industry. Next up will be the video phone which Orange hopes to introduce in the middle of next year at a price of about £500.
The large hand-held devices will offer video-conferencing, fax-viewing, internet access and office applications. Customers will be able to use it as a camera and store the results, which could be useful for professionals such as surveyors.
John Carter of Orange says the video phones will be particularly popular for calling up clips of sporting events and film trailers. "Users can get a feeling for a film and, if they want to see it, can find out where it is on and book a ticket all with the same phone."
All this and more will be available in much smaller devices when the next generation of mobile phones is introduced, probably in 2002. The universal mobile telephone system (UMTS) will then use extra bandwidth to deliver information at much greater speed and detail.
WAP phones have one other advantage over the ordinary internet. Using technology refined by Cambridge Positioning Systems, the phone network operators can locate each phone to within about 50 yards. This means information such as travel or entertainment can be automatically personalised to both who and where the user is, even down to the very street.
Vodafone
VODAFONE has long been the Marks & Spencer of the mobile phone world. Steady and reliable, if a little dull, it has become one of the biggest telecommunications companies on the planet.
It is launching its new service - Vodafone Interactive - on November 1. Though it has not announced which WAP it will use, the company has said that Vodafone Interactive will contain the usual mix of news, sport, share prices and entertainment listings.
Vodafone is also starting its own internet service provider (ISP), vodafone.net, from which each user will have a Personal Preference Page as a gateway to the system. This will allow users to personalise their service, choosing what to receive and when required. The P3 will also enable users to send an SMS, top up the credit on a Pay As You Talk phone or simply check the balance. Anything available on the vodafone.net website will also be available on a Vodafone WAP phone.
Vodafone's Virtual Personal Assistant, an online organiser, will remind the user of important times and dates, send, receive and store text messages and provide a full e-mail service.
Vodafone Interactive will be free of charge. You don't have to be a Vodafone mobile customer to take advantage of it over the internet, but only Vodafone customers will be able to access it via a WAP phone.
BEN HAMMERSLEY
Orange
AS the youngest company with a mobile network, Orange is eager to be in the forefront of innovations and has consequently launched WAP services.
Subscribers will benefit from a wide range of deals agreed with information providers. They will be able to call up business and sports news from ITN and gather sports results from the Press Assocation.
Entertainment listings are being made available by Associated News Media, while an agreement with Integrated Traffic Information Service will offer road, rail and Tube details.
Cheap flights at short notice will be found on the Lastminute.com site and trials with NatWest should lead to the launch next year of a banking service allowing customers to check balances, transfer funds and pay bills directly on the screen of their WAP phone.
Orange will continue to work with internet service providers to increase the amount of information available on the move and intends to introduce a directory of specialist services to suit individual's needs.
The company already offers customers a voice-activated personal assistant called Wildfire and plans to launch a high-speed data service to allow customers to gather information, browse the web and download e-mails and faxes.
TONY DAWE
the-times.co.uk |
