Global Mobility Systems has partnered with Internet infrastructure company InfoSpace.com to provide Internet content to wireless phones using Global Mobility’s @mobile Internet portal.
Under the agreement, InfoSpace.com will deliver Web content and interactive Internet services to national wireless carriers, said the companies. The @mobile solution will be co-branded by participating carriers. Global Mobility said it is in discussions with carriers and will announce partnerships when discussions are finalized.
The @mobile service allows wireless customers to define their preferences for receiving content and information, such as news, stock quotes and weather, on their wireless phone. The service also gives customers the ability to “pull” information from the Internet using their handset. Global Mobility said customers initially will be able to request a stock quote by entering certain keystrokes on a wireless handset.
To subscribe to the service, users must establish a content preference profile on a carrier-branded Web site and choose the data they want delivered to their wireless handset. Global Mobility’s @mobile interactive engine omits the need for a microbrowser, while its two-way data capability enables wireless e-commerce, said the company.
Global Mobility is known in the wireless industry for its enhanced services software that enables services such as four-digit dialing and restricted dialing. The company also has launched a professional services unit designed to help mobile phone operators with their marketing and business needs.
By offering two-way information services now, carriers can train customers to use the type of services that are expected to become prevalent with the deployment of Wireless Application Protocol-enabled devices in the future, said Michael Buhrmann, president and chief executive officer of Global Mobility. Once WAP-enabled devices hit the market, Buhrmann said Global Mobility will help carriers upgrade the customers who want to transition to a new device, while still providing a way to serve customers who don’t want to switch devices.
Buhrmann said the Internet is driving a culture of people that are addicted to receiving information at home and at work, and providing information to a mobile device is a natural extension of that trend.
“Many in the industry will tell you that non-PC devices are the future of the Internet,” said Naveen Jain, chairman and CEO of InfoSpace.com. “We are here to tell you that the future is here.
“People will be personalizing their Web portal services through a PC, but then accessing that information through a variety of devices, in this case through their digital cellular phones,” continued Jain.
