In an unprecedented move to bring the Internet to mobile phone users, AOL Europe announced last week it entered into agreements with Nokia Corp. and L.M. Ericsson to develop and trial its “AOL Anywhere” mobile service based on the Wireless Application Protocol.
The deal marks the first time an Internet service provider has teamed with wireless handset providers, rather than network operators such as Vodafone AirTouch plc.
The deal gives AOL Europe’s customers the option of using an AOL portal as a starting point on their mobile handset.
Other mobile phone companies with WAP-enabled Internet services can override AOL’s portal, ultimately giving the consumer the choice of which portal to use, but this deal puts the company-with about 3.8 million customers in nine European countries-in a strong competitive position, said Andreas Schmidt, president and chief executive officer of AOL Europe.
AOL Europe said its mobile portals will be compatible with short messaging service and WAP protocols and handsets, as well as General Packet Radio Service which is expected to deliver “always-on” service up to 10 times faster than current mobile devices.
“AOL Europe will make sure our mobile portals are available to the broadest possible audience, over the complete range of platforms and carried across the full spectrum of providers,” Schmidt said.
The deal is quite beneficial for Nokia and Ericsson as well. Leading handset manufacturers are moving to strike as many deals as possible to increase demand for WAP-enabled services, which their newest equipment is capable of supporting.
“I think Nokia and Ericsson would go with anybody now just to get the critical mass. They are very much concerned about that,” Falk Mueller Veerse, an analyst for Durlacher, told Reuters.
In a separate but related deal, AOL Europe said U.S.-based RTS Wireless will provide its Advantage software system for its WAP gateway, SMS and Mail by Phone trials.
AOL Europe, a 50-50 joint venture between America Online and Germany’s Bertelsmann AG, said it first will test WAP features such as mail, news, weather and stock quotes over Ericsson, Nokia and RTS Wireless’ gateway proxy servers in the United Kingdom, Germany and France by the end of the month.
