Inktomi Corp. (NASDAQ:INKT), developer of scalable Internet infrastructure software, and GWcom, developer of the byair.com Wireless Internet Platform and Portal Service, today announced an alliance to enable advanced wireless commerce services on mobile phones and other handheld devices. The agreement will enable users to access powerful e-Commerce capabilities through WAP-enabled mobile phones and wireless PDAs, spanning a broad range of products, merchants, and content.
The byair.com wireless portal delivers a range of offerings spanning financial services, stock trading, travel, weather, entertainment, and shopping. byair.com can be accessed by any Internet-enabled device, and can be licensed by wireless carriers or portals.
"byair.com enables users to radically expand the everyday utility of their mobile phones and PDAs, with services such as mobile shopping from their local traditional retailers, e-retailers, stock trading, travel resources, and a host of Internet information services," said Raymond Chin, Chairman and CEO of GWcom. "Inktomi's flexible commerce infrastructure provides a powerful platform to customize and deliver online shopping services to our customers."
The Inktomi Commerce Engine provides a powerful online commerce platform for a wide range of portals, vertical portals, destination sites, merchants, devices, and software applications. Inktomi's customizable, private-label service aggregates hundreds of merchants and millions of products, enabling compelling online shopping features for users and new revenue streams for Internet and telecommunications companies. The Inktomi Commerce Engine powers commerce for over 40 leading Internet destinations representing an aggregate audience reach of over 50 million users.
"The Inktomi Commerce Engine has been designed from the ground up to enable `Commerce Everywhere', and our alliance with GWcom furthers this strategy," said Stuart Spiegel, vice president and general manager of e-Commerce for Inktomi. "We're very pleased to work with GWcom to bring online commerce to mobile devices worldwide."
GWcom, an experienced global provider of wireless portal services and the largest wireless destination site in China, launched its first mobile device services nearly two years ago, and handles over 6.5M wireless information/stock transactions per month. The company operates services in the U.S. and China. The company plans to expand service coverage throughout Asia and Europe this year. GWcom's executive team brings experience from technology and telecommunications leaders such as Ameritech, Pacific Bell, SRI International, Motorola, and the firm is backed by investors including New World Infrastructure, Intel, and IDG-China.
The wireless Internet market is projected to expand rapidly over the next several years to cover over 1 billion wireless devices by 2003, according to the Gartner Group. Consumer adoption of eCommerce will continue to accelerate as 7 million Internet users make their first online purchases this year. With more than 17 million households shopping online by year-end, a new Report from Forrester Research, Inc. estimates that US online retail sales for 1999 will reach $20.2 billion. By 2004, Forrester predicts that a new type of retailer --the post-Web retailer -- will emerge to serve the 49 million US households that will spend more than $184 billion online for a variety of goods.
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