Exclusive: Vodafone's Interactive goes live Wednesday
Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) Interactive gets off the ground with Net services for mobile phones
ZDNet's sister publication IT Week, can exclusively reveal that the UK's largest mobile phone operator, Vodafone, will go live with its Vodafone Interactive mobile content service Wednesday at the Web address www.vodafone.net. It will also launch its free ISP, www.vodafone.net, simultaneously.
Vodafone Interactive -- designed specifically for mobile phone users -- will offer Internet access for the price of the phone call from any mobile or fixed line phone, regardless of what network or operator is used. Users will pay for the cost of a national call to access the service. This equates to between 5p a minute and 35p a minute depending on a customer's network and tariff. Vodafone will be offering email alerts and other portal content to mobile phones via SMS and the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which is expected to underpin content delivery over the Internet.
The firm's intentions were announced on 16 September this year. Users of other networks such as BT Cellnet and Orange can access the Vodafone ISP service over their own mobiles, but Vodafone customers will be able to access more services.
According to Vodafone's currently off-limits Web site, the service will be based on several selling points. These will be a personalised 'homepage' for each user, phone-based email and Internet access, and a shopping service.
In the future, Vodafone is looking to combine services such as GSM location technology and video transmission over UMTS, the so-called third-generation mobile service that will add far greater bandwidth capabilities. |
