Phone.com Sees Vodafone-Mannesmann Opportunity: Forum
2/6/00 1:47:00 PM
Source: Bloomberg News
Redwood City, California, Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Phone.com Inc., which makes software that connects wireless phones with the Internet, sees opportunity in the union of Vodafone AirTouch Plc and Mannesmann AG, Chief Executive Alain Rossmann said.
On Thursday, Phone.com agreed to supply Web-browsing software to AirTouch Cellular, the U.S. unit of Vodafone. Terms weren't disclosed. Phone.com will gain access to AirTouch's 10 million customers -- and status as an 'approved supplier' to Vodafone's family of companies that boasts more 35 million subscribers worldwide, Rossmann said.
Mannesmann, which agreed last week to be bought by U.K.-based Vodafone for $192 billion in stock, the largest merger ever, was already a customer.
'The impact (of the combination) on us is indirect, not direct,' Rossman told the Bloomberg Forum. 'We think the resulting company will be just a powerhouse in the world of telecom.'
Analysts expect 50 million phones will be shipped with Phone.com software this year, up sharply from 2 million in 1999, Rossmann said.
Perhaps more significantly, the company attracted about 700,000 users last year from among the 2 million customers who bought browser-enabled phones, 'quite a high penetration on the early returns,' he said.
Growth came at rates above the company's expectations, too; users almost tripled from 250,000 at the end of the September. That's expected to continue, as customers buy phones equipped with the so-called 'microbrowser.'
Phone.com now has relationships with 52 wireless carriers around the globe, Rossmann said, representing about 40 percent of mobile phone users.
Redwood City, California-based Phone.com is working to improve its software, including support for phones with color screens as well as full-motion video and MP3 audio. In Asia, users can watch movies or download and play music using their cell phones.
The company's expected to lose 50 cents a share for the fiscal year ending in June and lose 78 cents the next year. Phone.com predicts it will break even in fiscal 2002.
Phone.com's prospects are also buoyed by increasing projections about the size of the mobile-phone market. In August, when Sprint Corp.'s PCS Group announced its Wireless Web service, which uses Phone.com's browser, Rossmann said there would be 1 billion cell-phone users worldwide by 2003. Now he predicts 1.4 billion.
'These numbers are truly what is driving our financial opportunities; we're just very excited about it,' he said. 'Separately from the our hard work and all of the successes we've had, the size of the opportunity has been increased by 40 percent in just six months.' |
