Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Macromedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACR) today announced an agreement to develop the first visual Wireless Markup Language (WML) authoring solution for mobile devices. Developers will now be able to easily create content for Nokia Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) handsets using WML objects for Dreamweaver, the leading professional Web authoring environment. Producing WML with Dreamweaver simplifies the development process and means a wider range of Internet content will soon be available on mobile devices.
The first public demonstration of this powerful solution is being held this week at the Nokia booth (1419) at COMDEX Fall '99. The WML objects for Dreamweaver are currently scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2000. The Nokia WML objects will be available at no cost from both Macromedia and Nokia Web sites.
Viewable Internet content is currently available on the Nokia 7110 GSM handset for Europe and Asia Pacific customers, and is expected to be available on the Nokia 7100 Series handsets for the Americas market in the first half of 2000.
"Demand for the mobile Internet—and specifically WAP compliant solutions—continues to grow," said Paul Chellgren, vice president of Business Development and Product Management at Nokia.
Nokia estimates that 15 percent of handsets sold in the year 2000 will be Internet capable—and that's just the start, Internet access on mobile devices will very quickly surpass accessing the Internet on PCs.
"Macromedia shares this vision with Nokia and has committed to work with us to enhance their number one Web authoring environment, Dreamweaver, with the ability to render WML content. This will rapidly increase the pace at which a wide range of Web content will find its way onto mobile devices," Chellgren added.
How it works The WML objects extend Dreamweaver's market-leading authoring environment by providing a visual interface for creating Internet content for Nokia handheld devices. Without the WML objects for Dreamweaver, WML is generated in text editors that provide no visual representation of how the content will appear or how users will navigate through WML content on their handsets. The WML objects will make it easy for developers to create content destined for Nokia wireless handsets by visually rendering WML content within Dreamweaver at design time, while also providing continual feedback on how that content will appear. The WML objects will enable users to create new WML decks and cards, insert images, modify text, and implement anchors and styles within the Dreamweaver interface, familiar to more than 300,000 professional Web developers.
"We are extremely pleased to be partnering with Nokia, one of the world's leading wireless communication providers, to create a solution that will deliver the power of the Internet to Nokia's handset customers. This is a great example of how Dreamweaver can be extended to author content that plays back on all devices, from Web browsers to handsets," said Kevin Lynch, senior vice president and general manager at Macromedia. "Just as Roundtrip HTML helped make Dreamweaver the first visual environment used by professionals to create HTML, we expect that the WML objects for Dreamweaver will be the first visual environment to bring WML into the mainstream for Web developers."
The WML objects for Dreamweaver comply with version 1.1 of the WAP specification. WML content is distributed on top of existing Web standards using the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), an open global standard for total mobile solutions, including communication between a mobile handset and the Internet or other computer applications. WAP-based technology enables the design of advanced, interactive and real-time mobile services, such as mobile banking or Internet-based news services, which can be used in digital mobile phones or other mobile devices. Nokia is a founding member of the WAP Forum, which standardizes intelligent messaging for creating Internet services and applications for digital mobile phones and wireless terminals. For more WAP information, see http://ww.wapforum.com.
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