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Technology Stocks : Phone.com [PHCM] -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neverenough who wrote (721)	11/30/1999 12:21:00 PM
From: Ron	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1080

Interesting Reuters story PHCM: By Sara Ledwith, European Technology Correspondent LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Phone.com <PHCM.O>, the U.S.-based software developer for wireless devices, expects more than half the world's predicted one billion mobile phone subscribers in 2003 to be connected to the Internet, a senior executive said. The Nasdaq-listed group, whose stock has surged more than 700 percent since launching in June, expects Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) phones to start shipping in serious volumes in the second quarter of next year, said Malcolm Bird, the company's Managing Director and Vice President, Europe. "The millions (of WAP phone unit sales) will come in the first and second quarter of next year," he told Reuters in an interview. Many industry forecasts expect mobile phone subscriptions globally to hit the one billion mark in 2003, but some have forecast that the Internet-linked share of the total will be more modest. Formerly Unwired Planet, Phone.com was a driving force behind WAP -- the main software handshake to link cellphones to the Internet -- and has become a rare dominant U.S. player in an industry where European groups are seen as leaders. The WAP cellphone experience should be simpler than surfing on a personal computer. "We're hoping many users won't ever know they were on the Internet," said Bird. Building on a "thin client" model, where users need only lightweight equipment to handle information on a remote, networked system, Phone.com's prime goal is to generate sales of its server equipment. It has stimulated the market through the royalty-free distribution of a microbrowser -- the software engine for a cellphone to navigate the Net -- and it is distributing a wireless portal or Web gateway for operators to brand in their own names. "The browser is a profitable business but not not the main revenue-generator," Bird said. Phone.com's customers currently total about 46 mobile operators, or 10 percent of the world's operators, through which it claims to reach 40 percent of world subscribers, and Bird said it aimed to retain a dominant position in future. Just under half of its current commercial relationships are in the trial phase. Bird said the loss-making company, which has been developing mobile phone Internet access technology since 1995 -- aims to capitalise on its "first-mover advantage" by having already experienced the technology pitfalls that newcomers encounter. Global cellphone leaders like Nokia <NOK1V.HE> and Ericsson <LMEb.ST> have licensed Phone.com's browser for the U.S. market although he said they are developing their own for Europe, where Phone.com competes with them. Infrastructure manufacturers including Siemens <SIEGn.DE>, Alcatel <CGEP.PA>, Sema <SEM.L> and Motorola <MOT.N> are reselling Phone.com products -- which Bird said should position the company well for future network upgrades. REUTERS

To: neverenough who wrote (721)	12/4/1999 12:10:00 PM
From: Ellen	Respond to of 1080

totaltele.com ETSI Teams with IPv6 for Next Generation Internet By Vanessa Clark 25 November 1999 The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the IPv6 Forum yesterday joined forces to promote the next generation of Internet Protocol numbering, known as IPv6. The move was prompted by "the strong desire of wireless operators to get IP into 3G," said Bridget Cosgrove, deputy director general at ETSI. IPv6 is a new Internet numbering protocol being developed by the Internet Engineering Taskforce to provide almost unlimited IP numbers once the existing protocol, IPv4, runs out. This will allow networking to extend to consumer and industrial devices like mobile phones, fridges and toasters. "We will need around 100 IP numbers each in 20 years time," said Latif Ladid, president of IPv6 Forum. As well as addressing space issues, IPv6 will add security and quality of service to the IP world, he said. Mobile devices become more suited to accessing the Internet with increased wireless bandwidth in the offing and the emergence of wireless application protocol devices (WAP). Traditionally ETSI members with IP experience come from the fixed world, said Cosgrove. Now wireless operators are seeing the need to work more closely with Internet standards bodies. The IPv6 Forum has also partnered the UMTS Forum and GSM Association, and is in discussion with the 3GPP (led by ETSI), the WAP Forum and the Bluetooth consortium. The two organizations have teamed to promote IPv6 to the telecoms industry by hosting a series of conferences starting this year. They also plan so-called interoperability "bake-offs" to test how different IPv6 products work together.