Nokia and America Online Announce Plans to Develop AOL's Popular Instant Messenger Application for Nokia Wireless Devices
[Millions of AOL Members and More Than 50 Million AOL Instant Messenger(sm) (AIM) Users Will Be Able to Access AIM From Nokia Wireless Phones and Other Mobile Devices]
Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, and America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL), the world's leading interactive services company, today announced plans to develop a version the AOL Instant
Messenger(sm) (AIM) service for a variety of Nokia's wireless handheld devices.
Under this agreement, America Online and Nokia will work together to develop an AOL instant messaging application that will enable live 'real time' communication between users of Nokia's wireless devices and AOL's community of
approximately 100 million Instant-Message Users, anywhere, anytime.AIM users can communicate with friends, family, and
colleagues on the AOL service and on the Internet
This agreement will offer users of Nokia wireless technology an additional, easy-to-use communications feature, and will
help extend the AOL community's access to wireless devices. Delivery of the new application in select Nokia products in
North America is expected during the second half of 2000.
The two companies also plan to collaborate on supporting AIM the AOL Instant Messenger and future wireless extensions
of many AOL online services and Web properties.
AOL Wireless, a significant component of the `AOL Anywhere'(sm) strategy, will bring AOL's most popular features and services to a wide range of wireless devices. AOL's 21 million members and tens of millions of users of its other Web brands will be able to easily extend their interactive experience to the wireless platform in a convenient, easy-to-use and valuable way.
Users will be able to check their e-mail, exchange Instant Messages, and access AOL's other popular and consumer-friendly features and brands.
"The combination of the Internet and mobility will transform everyday life, giving users a new found freedom through
intuitive, personalized and location-based applications and services," said K-P Wilska , President, Nokia Inc. (Americas).
"We are excited to be working with AOL to bring Instant Messaging to the wireless world, and to provide this unique
service to both of our customers."
"A key part of our 'AOL Anywhere' strategy is to bring many of our most popular products and services to different
devices and interactive platforms, including wireless communications. We are pleased to join with Nokia, an industry leader,to work to develop applications to make AIM, one of the easiest, fastest ways to communicate in cyberspace, available for Nokia's wireless devices," said Bob Pittman, President and Chief Operating Officer for America Online.
The new application will be optimized to take advantage of AOL/Tegic Communications's T9 predictive text input
technology, an enabler for AOL instant messaging services on cell phones and other mobile devices. The Nokia 7100
Series phones already utilize T9 to assist in quickly choosing the right word for a short message (SMS). The predictive text input method is considerably faster than the ordinary way of entering text.
About Nokia
Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. Nokia is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed and IP networks, related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, net sales totaled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 55 000 people.
About America Online, Inc.
Founded in 1985, America Online, Inc., based in Dulles, Virginia, is the world's leader in interactive services, web brands,Internet technologies and e-commerce services. America Online, Inc. operates: two worldwide Internet services, AmericaOnline, with more than 21 million members, and CompuServe, with more than 2.5 million members; several leading Internet brands including ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, Digital City Inc.; the Netscape Netcenter and AOL.COM portals; Netscape Navigator and Communicator browsers; AOL MovieFone; Spinner.com, and Nullsoft Winamp.
Through its strategic alliance with Sun Microsystems, the company develops and offers easy-to-deploy, end-to-end e-commerce and enterprise solutions for companies operating in the Net Economy. |
