InfoSpace Inc. picked up another
lucrative wireless deal Wednesday when the content provider teamed up with
SBC Wireless to rollout is national
mobile Internet services.
SBC Wireless tapped InfoSpace for its new wire-free Internet services
scheduled to be available through its subsidiaries in October.
Six SBC Wireless brands, including Southwestern Bell Wireless, Ameritech, Pacific Bell Wireless, Nevada Bell Wireless, Cellular One, and SNET are set to distribute the wireless
data services.
Stephen Carter, SBC Wireless president and chief executive officer, said the
deal with InfoSpace would put a familiar face on its
wireless services.
“Our goal in offering mobile data is to provide the information from the
Internet that people want and need when they’re mobile,” Carter said. “The
InfoSpace platform will help us create the face that our customers will see
when they use their wireless phones to access information.”
The wireless data services will provide an added avenue for SBC Wireless
subscribers to communicate and access information over wireless devices.
Specifically, the InfoSpace platform allows SBC Wireless subscribers to
send messages from any device capable of data messaging and e-mail.
The service also provides local and personalized weather, stock, and news
reports, as well as sports updates. Address books, calendars and to-do
lists round out the InfoSpace personal service offing planned for SBC Wireless.
The services can be personalized from a handheld device or a desktop
computer, through the same portal that offers users wireless Web access on
a password-protected site.
Naveen Jain, InfoSpace chairman, said the agreement with SBC Wireless is
further proof that it has the most compelling platform for wireless data
services in the market.
“SBC Wireless is now able to launch an entire platform for the Wireless
Internet under its own brand name and to offer these unique services to
their extensive base of subscribers,” Jain said.
SBC wireless affiliates currently provide access to 12.2 million customers
in the U.S. It is currently deploying a national wireless expansion plan
that will land SBC Wireless services in 30 new markets.
SBC teamed up with BellSouth Corp.
in April to combine their U.S. wireless operations. The
alliance created a powerful wireless company to compete nationwide in the
exploding wireless voice and data businesses.
The recent marriage of GTE Corp. to Bell Atlantic Corp.
created Verizon
Communications, which launched its Verizon Wireless Web portal featuring
InfoSpace content and shopping services last week.
Integrating InfoSpace’s wireless infrastructure into Verizon’s mobile Web services allows customers to e-shop, access information
and manage their Internet experience over a Verizon Wireless-powered
cellular phone, just like the SBC deal struck today.
While the competition for consumers is heating up in the wireless Web
market, InfoSpace has been there to equalize the content that providers are
offering subscribers, setting a de facto standard for mobile Web
content.
