| Collective Wisdom, the
only Italian firm listed in the Internet 500, has announced the formation
of Collective WAP, a division of the European Web agency dedicated
exclusively to the development and design of applications, Web services,
and content for wireless devices.
"WAP has a number of advantages over the web as a platform for personalized
services," said Collective Wisdom president, Mark Abouzeid. "First, a
cellular phone knows where you are and therefore, can provide you with
localized information on demand. Second, cellular phones have much deeper
penetration and acceptance in Europe than computers. We don't need to
convince users to try a new technology, simply to adopt new services."
According to Forrester Research, nearly 30 percent of Italians own a cellular
phone. In Sweden, this figure has already been exceeded, while 17 percent of the
United Kingdom population are using wireless telephones. France, with 15 percent,
and Germany with 11 percent, round out Europe's top users.
"We are currently working with clients from Italy, Israel, the United
States and other countries," said Abouzeid. "All of whom have specific
applications to bring to WAP."
Collective WAP, based in the central Italy region of Tuscany, has developed
a team of expert resources in WAP technology and architectural design.
According to Abouzeid, the company's current client book includes a unified
messaging service which will allow computer and WAP users to communicate
in real-time, an information and entertainment network for WAP users, and
medical data/notification via WAP devices.
In Italy, with a target user population of 29 million persons versus 5.5
million Internet users, WAP is a clear way for manufacturers and ISPs to
expand their market. In addition, deep discounting of WAP devises by
manufacturers such as Alcatel, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Siemens, has
already made WAP acceptance in Italy a reality.
TIM, the Internet division of Telecom Italia,
presently offers WAP gateway services, and other providers like Omnitel and
Wind are close behind.
"We are not only looking to porting current web sites to phones but
exploring new services which would not be possible on the web. For example,
through Collective WAP's affiliation with On-Line Communications, one of
the leading agencies in the pharmaceutical industry, we are examining ways
to significantly increase prescription yields through WAP notification,"
explained the WAP Collective president.
As a concurrent announcement, Abouzeid pointed out that Collective Wisdom
has also registered WAPmoda, a site that will focus primarily on design
issues for wireless devices. The site is expected to launch in May.
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