SBC Wireless Selects InfoSpace to Provide Mobile Commerce Platform and Services for Next Generation Mobile Commerce Services New Services to Provide SBC Wireless Customers With Mobile Commerce Capabilities With National Retailers, e-tailers and Local Merchants
SAN ANTONIO and BELLEVUE, Wash., Sep 14, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- SBC Wireless (NYSE: SBC chart, msgs), a leader in global communications, today announced the company has selected InfoSpace, Inc. (Nasdaq: INSP chart, msgs), a leading global provider of merchant and consumer infrastructure services on wireless and other platforms, for the development of new mobile commerce services that will enable SBC Wireless customers to access a wide range of new services that turn their wireless Internet handsets into true transaction devices. The new wireless commerce services will give SBC Wireless customers the ability to quickly locate and purchase products and services, as well as receive promotions from a wide range of merchants including national retailers, e-tailers and local merchants.
(Photo:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000420/INFOLOGO)
"By choosing to work with InfoSpace, we will be able to offer comprehensive mobile commerce services to our customers, allowing users to search for and purchase specific products and services at a given moment," said Stephen Carter, president and CEO of SBC Wireless. "The partnership is a strategic step toward providing the mobile commerce services that will turn our wireless Internet handsets into transaction devices."
"To date, wireless carriers have not been able to monetize their subscriber bases like the established Web portals have, but InfoSpace's private-label mobile commerce services are a powerful tool enabling carriers to do just that," said Arun Sarin, CEO of InfoSpace. "Our wireless promotions, comparison shopping and transaction processing technologies are revolutionary in their ability to leverage Internet technology to drive consumer traffic to local merchants and service companies such as dry cleaners and plumbers where over $3.7 trillion is conducted each year in the US alone."
About SBC Communications
SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader. Through its subsidiaries' trusted brands -- Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, SBC Telecom, Nevada Bell, SNET and Cellular One -- and world-class network, SBC's subsidiaries provide local and long-distance phone service, wireless and data communications, paging, high-speed Internet access and messaging, cable and satellite television, security services and telecommunications equipment, as well as directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 61.2 million access lines, 12.2 million wireless customers and is undertaking a national expansion program that will bring SBC service to an additional 30 markets. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in more than 20 countries. With approximately 219,000 employees, SBC is the 13th-largest employer in the U.S., with annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.
About InfoSpace
InfoSpace is a leading global Internet information infrastructure services company. InfoSpace provides commerce, information and communication infrastructure services to wireless devices, merchants and Web sites. InfoSpace's affiliates include a network of wireless and other non-PC devices including PCs, cellular phones, pagers, screen telephones, television set-top boxes, online kiosks, and personal digital assistants. These include relationships with Intel, Ericsson, Nokia, Mitsui and Acer America. InfoSpace's affiliate network also consists of more 3,100 Web sites that include AOL, Microsoft, Disney's GO Network, NBC's Snap, Lycos, DoubleClick and ABC LocalNet, among others.
InfoSpace's recent announcement that they have entered into an agreement providing for the acquisition of Go2Net (Nasdaq: GNET chart, msgs) positions the company to tap the market for broadband wired (DSL and cable) and broadband wireless (2.5G and 3G) services such as interactive gaming, television and other entertainment services. In addition, the announcement brings full back end payment processing to InfoSpace's existing commerce services, allowing InfoSpace to offer everything a merchant needs to conduct the entire lifecycle of a transaction, one of the key drivers of mobile commerce adoption.
This release contains forward-looking statements relating to the development of the Company's products and services and future operating results, including statements regarding the Company's agreement with SBC Wireless, that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Factors that could affect the Company's actual results include the progress and costs of the development of our products and services and the timing of market acceptance of those products and services. A more detailed description of certain factors that could affect actual results include, but are not limited to, those discussed in InfoSpace's Annual Report on For m 10-K, in the section entitled "Factors Affecting InfoSpace's Operating Results, Business Prospects ### and Market Price of Stock." Readers are cautioned not to place under reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. InfoSpace undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Source: InfoSpace
Contact:
Joni Hanson of InfoSpace, 425-201-6100, ext. 8655, or
jhanson@infospace.com; or Kristy Blankenship of Fleishman-Hillard,
214-665-1329, or blankenk@fleishman.com, for SBC Wireless
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