REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (July 7, 1999) ¾ Phone.com, Inc. (Nasdaq:PHCM) today announced that two of Japan's largest cellular carriers, DDI Corporation and IDO Corporation have launched wireless Internet access services based on the Phone.com™ UP.Link™ Server Suite for their Japanese wireless customers using the Japan-wide cdmaOne™ network. The services, announced and launched in Japan in April 1999, are branded under two names: DDI Corporation's EZweb and IDO Corporation's EZaccess.
Another integral player in this new commercial rollout of WAP-based services is Hitachi, Ltd. of Japan. Hitachi licenses the Phone.com UP.Browser™ microbrowser, enabling it to offer wireless Internet and data features on its cdmaOne phones. The first product shipped under this global agreement is the Hitachi C201H cdmaOne phone for the Japanese market. This is Hitachi's first handset to enable access to the cdmaOne network.
Japanese wireless subscribers using Hitachi's phone have access to Internet-based services through both EZweb (DDI) and EZaccess (IDO). Both services include wireless delivered email and over 100 content sites, including news, stocks, weather, travel, and sports. In addition, subscribers have PIM and PC web access.
"Our EZweb service has been very successful in the market," said Mr. Onodera, vice president of DDI. "Japanese consumers have shown they want and need Internet information access from the screens of their cdmaOne phones."
"The rapid sales of EZaccess phones show us we have found a successful combination of services," said Mr. Akimasa Egawa, chairman of IDO. "The voice quality of cdmaOne with the standards-based Phone.com microbrowser and Internet information services give great value to our customers."
"Phone.com is delivering on our strategy to work with world class telecommunications companies to provide Internet access on mass market phones," said Chuck Parrish, executive vice-president for Phone.com. "We are delighted to partner with two of the largest Japanese wireless carriers to successfully introduce global standards-based Web-enabled phones to the Japanese marketplace."
The UP.Link Server Suite is an open and robust system that enables interactive Internet information services and telephony applications on wireless handsets running the UP.Browser. Phone.com's UP.Browser software is a WAP-compatible microbrowser designed and optimized for mass-market wireless telephones. Due to its open and highly portable architecture, UP.Browser can be embedded into different types of wireless telephones and utilize each mobile phone's specific display and input characteristics, giving network operators a new way to reach subscribers and add innovative services, with seamless integration of voice and data services
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