By Joey Gardiner, 27 October 1999 16:14
NEWS At Lotusphere 99 Berlin, Lotus today filled in the details on its joint venture with Nokia to run Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) services on Domino. Lotus demonstrated a variety of functions - which it says are available immediately - including the ability to access telephone numbers from a corporate database with a WAP-enabled mobile phone. The company said it intends to have the full range of Domino applications available over the WAP phone within two years. However, Pierre Van Beneden, general manager and senior VP, Lotus EMEA, told Silicon.com that corporate users will have to wait for more complex applications such as email. Van Beneden also pointed out that the deal is non-exclusive. Analysts agreed that the deal didn't represent a heavy technology commitment for the two companies, but is aimed at generating interest in a very young market. Simon Hayward, research director for Gartner Group said: "This is a joint marketing project. We won't see any jointly developed products. Lotus are first out of the gate with this, and will gain mindshare in this market." Hayward predicted that it will take some time for WAP-enabled phones to make an impact on the corporate environment. Clive Longbottom, strategy analyst at Strategy Partners said the deal is a positive move for Lotus, but won't induce a sea-change in the market overnight because of the limitations of what can presently be done with a WAP phone. "At the moment WAP phones are for the nerds and the fashion conscious. The corporate environment will wait, and adopt on a needs-must basis," he explained.
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