Nokia Presses WAP Accelerator

Computergram International, May 25, 1999

With version 1.01 of the WAP (wireless application protocol) specification due to appear in mid-summer, Nokia is beating the drum for the 'de facto' standard mobile phone internet interface with a free server API download and a ground-breaking mobile e-payment pilot. Mid-summer is also the scheduled shipment time for the Nokia 7110 dual-band GSM handset, which Nokia claims will be the first WAP-compliant phone to reach the market when it goes on sale in June or July.

The 7110 is already slated to provide the client platform for a mobile payment trial to be conducted jointly between Nokia, Visa International, and the pan-Scandinavian clearing bank, MeritaNordbanken Group. The pilot will demonstrate electronic point of sale and remote payment using Visa's e-payment platform, Visa Open Platform, SETTM-secured GSM handsets issued with special "mini-SIM" authorization cards. It is an important evolution for WAP, according to Gerhard Romen, VP of sales and marketing at Nokia Wireless Communications. Although the interface standard is widely supported among software application vendors, telecoms equipment makers and mobile operators, it has yet to be demonstrated in a live e-commerce environment. "We see electronic payments as being a key application for future mobiles," said Romen.

The pilot will also be one of the first systems to use Nokia's WAP server technology, which is in turn one of the first products to implement version 1.01 of the WAP Forum's WAP specification, which is set for final ratification shortly. Romen said that developers that want to try an early implementation of WAP 1.01 functionality can do so now by taking advantage of Nokia's free download version of the WAP Server API at www.nokia.com/corporate/wap.> Nokia expects demand for the download to be high, in line with the interest in the free download of Nokia's WAP toolkit that was made available in February, and which has since seen downloads reach a five-digit number, Romen said. Nokia expects that by 2003, of the one billion mobile phones in use worldwide, 500,000 will be WAP-enabled.

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