Nokia announced today that it is developing a solution that enables easy and immediate access to mobile commerce sites via a WAP-enabled phone.
The technology partners in this initiative, Hewlett Packard, IBM and Nocom, will collaborate with Nokia to bring the new over-the-air WAP solution to market during the first half of 2000. Nokia's initiative is the latest step towards the Mobile Information Society through the development of easy-to-use WAP services for mobile commerce customers.
Consumers expect mobile Internet services to be as easy to access as the Internet itself -- just a few clicks away. Similarly, service providers expect to be able to provide a smooth transition to the mobile Internet to keep up with the increased demand of Internet services via mobile devices. Now, consumers will find it easy to access mobile commerce sites wirelessly.
For example, a mobile user browses the Internet on a PC and finds an e-commerce site that is mobile enabled. The user simply clicks on a designated icon on the web page, inputs the applicable mobile phone number, and settings are automatically programmed over-the-air to the WAP-enabled phone. This programming allows the user to directly access this e-commerce site wirelessly, without any additional input or programming to the phone.
"This technology is a crucial function in the Mobile Internet," says Pertti Lounamaa, Vice President, Nokia Internet Communications. "We are proud of the foresight our customers possess as leaders of their respective industries and are glad to share continued efforts with both them and our partners while we endeavor to 'Put the Internet in every pocket'."
The new technology will be integrated into the Nokia WAP Server, an open server platform for mobile applications that lets companies maintain control over end-to-end security of access to data and customer traffic between the wireless network and the Internet, or their own internal networks. The solution is currently in the beta-testing phase with selected Nokia partners.
"As the largest Online and Mobile banking and commerce provider in Europe, MeritaNordbanken knows how important the ease-of use is for the wide adoption of services" says Bo Harald, Executive Vice President, MeritaNordbanken. "We look forward to be able to integrate this crucial functionality tightly with our uncompromised security infrastructure with Nokia."
According to OKOBANK Group's Executive Director Matti Korkeela, Deputy Member of the Board, the Nokia's easy-to-use solution combined with the Nokia WAP Server and its security option (WTLS) gives easy and convenient way to access OKOBANK Group's mobile banking services.
"We're very pleased to be the first hotel group in the world to be able to offer our customers the benefits of WAP technology," says Roland Nilsson, group chief executive of Scandic Hotels. "This is just the first step in our commitment to mobile services. The collaboration that we've now begun with leading companies in the market will give us and our customers a head start in exploiting the advantages of mobile technology."
"Ease-of-use is one of the key advantages mobile phones have over PCs today, particularly for buying things over the Web," said Mark Bregman, general manager IBM's Pervasive Computing Division. "Nokia's new WAP technology makes it even easier by taking all of the configuration headaches and sucking them into the infrastructure where they belong -- away from the user."
"Over-The-Air activation of WAP devices is a key enabling technology and we at Hewlett-Packard are happy to partner with Nokia to make access to Mobile E-Services truly pervasive, said Ulf Beyschlag, HP's worldwide Mobile E-services program manager. HP's Mobile E-services program comprises WAP-enabled servers; mobile e-service solutions; a Mobile E-services-on-Tap offering; and an innovative Mobile E-services Bazaar, which combines an online e-services trading community with physical facilities for developing and testing new applications.
"Nocom is one of the first in the world to offer a
WAP solution with this functionality directly to companies and it means that the
management of WAP phones will be much simpler in the future", says Anders
Jonson, chief executive of Nocom.
About the Nokia WAP Server
The Nokia WAP Server 1.0 allows businesses to fully
leverage the power and functionality of existing and new service offerings in a
mobile environment. It is an open server platform for mobile applications that
lets companies maintain control over end-to-end security of access to data and
customer traffic between the wireless network and the Internet or their own
internal networks. The Nokia WAP Server complies with the WAP 1.1 specification
and sets the industry milestone with its security option, the first commercially
available implementation of the Wireless Transportation Layer Security (WTLS).
The trial version of the Nokia WAP Server 1.0 has been downloaded more than
10,000 times from the Nokia website during the first month of availability.
About Nokia
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